Trutanich

A judge on Monday described City Atty. Carmen Trutanich's attempt to call himself "Los Angeles chief prosecutor" on the June election ballot as "misleading," ruling that he cannot use either of his favored ballot titles in his bid for district attorney. The ruling sided with one of Trutanich's main rivals in the race for district attorney, Alan Jackson, who filed a legal challenge claiming the city attorney was trying to "create confusion" with his ballot titles. "This guy is a pathological liar," said Jackson's political strategist, John Thomas, after the hearing.

In a new escalation of the controversy over Los Angeles Fire Department response times, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's top lawyer accused the city attorney's office Thursday of improperly advising fire officials to keep some performance data secret. Brian Currey, the mayor's chief counsel, accused City Atty. Carmen Trutanich's office of blocking the release of detailed data showing how quickly firefighters arrive at emergencies. Among other things, Currey complained that the city's lawyers warned fire officials that they could face criminal charges for disclosing information that has been routinely distributed in the past, including the locations of emergencies.

A candidate in the race to become Los Angeles County's top prosecutor has filed a lawsuit to prevent L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich from calling himself "chief prosecutor" or "chief criminal prosecutor" on the June ballot. In the suit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, Alan Jay Jackson accused Trutanich of using the "factually untrue, confusing and misleading" descriptions as part of an effort to fool voters into believing he has authority "beyond the bounds" of Los Angeles' city limits.

The race to become Los Angeles County's top prosecutor took final shape Wednesday in what promises to be an election dogfight, with one candidate announcing plans to sue to prevent L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich from calling himself "chief prosecutor" on the June ballot. With Wednesday's deadline up for would-be district attorney candidates, the field is set for Trutanich and five county prosecutors to battle for the chance to run the most powerful office in the county's criminal justice system — one responsible for prosecuting roughly 60,000 felony cases a year, including murders, rapes and robberies.

I was just trying to help L.A. City Atty. Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich keep a campaign promise recently when I went looking for an airplane that would fly around downtown with a sign reading: "Nuch is a liar. " And now it occurs to me that there's another promise I should help him keep: His pledge to also donate $100,000 to a program that helps kids. That would be LA's Best After School Enrichment Program, which serves 28,000 students at 186 schools. It turns out Trutanich's check has not yet arrived.

City Atty. Carmen Trutanich is a man of his word. OK, perhaps not when it comes to his campaign promise to serve out his full term, but certainly when it involves the city's homeless policies. Last June, his office vowed to appeal a preliminary injunction by a federal court that temporarily barred the city's Bureau of Street Services and police from seizing or destroying the unattended property of homeless people in downtown's skid row neighborhood. This month, he followed through, asking the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the injunction on the grounds that the city's homeless are in effect using the sidewalks as "their own public storage area.

In an advertisement touting Carmen Trutanich as the next district attorney of Los Angeles County, Sheriff Lee Baca proclaimed that Trutanich was the best candidate for the job. "He's not afraid to sacrifice," the sheriff said, adding that "Carmen Trutanich is about [the] values" needed to serve effectively. Baca is an elected official and entitled, like anyone else, to support candidates for office. But just because he can does not mean he should. And if he's so inclined, he should at least consult the law. He is, after all, a sheriff.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca admitted Friday that he broke state law by making a political endorsement while in uniform for an online campaign ad touting Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich for district attorney. Baca's acknowledgment came after inquiries from The Times about a video on Trutanich's campaign website that shows Baca wearing his badge and his department-issued sheriff's uniform. Although state law does allow sheriffs and other law enforcement officers to make political endorsements, they are not allowed to do so while in uniform.

There must be some mistake. We keep flipping through the pages of yesterday's Times, but we still can't find that full-page ad that City Atty. Carmen Trutanich pledged to buy in the event he broke his promise not to run for district attorney. He announced his candidacy on Thursday, and under the terms of the pledge he made when running for city attorney three years ago, the ad should have appeared in the paper on Sunday - but we still don't see it. It should be pretty easy to spot: He said it would have a large photo of him with the words "I AM A LIAR" in large block print.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich announced Thursday that he is jumping into the race for district attorney, drawing attacks from rivals on his integrity in what promises to be a bare-knuckled election fight to become L.A. County's top prosecutor. The announcement came after Trutanich insisted for months that he had not decided whether to formally enter the contest even as he raised nearly $1 million and sought political endorsements. Within minutes of Trutanich declaring his candidacy, a campaign strategist for county prosecutor Alan Jackson criticized Trutanich for violating his promise to voters during his successful 2009 city attorney's campaign not to seek higher office if he won. "It's a window into his soul that the man can't be trusted," said John Thomas, who is running Jackson's campaign but worked for Trutanich in 2009.