Trutanich blames campaign strategist for 'lack of name recognition' in failed DA race

The Los Angeles Dragnet reports that failed DA candidate Carmen Trutanich is blaming his former campaign strategist, John Shallman, for his 'Hindenburg-like' defeat. The tough talking city prosecutor believes that more people would have known his name and voted for him if Shallman had purchased slate mailers instead of tv ads. The claim is laughable as Trutanich had more name recognition, money and endorsements than any other candidate. He lost the election because more voters knew who and what he was; a liar.

This from the Dragnet:

Rumors suggest that embattled Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen 'Nuch' Trutanich is desperately trying to pin the blame for his 'Hindenburg-like' defeat in the DA primary election on his campaign strategist John Shallman. Trutanich believes that Shallman's failure to advise the DA wannabe to purchase slate mailers caused him to suffer from a 'lack of name recognition' in LA County.

Trutanich came in stone last of the three frontrunners in the DA primary despite having a campaign warchest three times larger than his closest rival, Chief Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey. Trutanich blew his wad on a glitzy tv ad campaign, a strategy that saw him swamp LA tv with so many advertisements that he ended up deeply in debt as he increased his television exposure in the final weeks of his ill-fated campaign. 

Lacey, who beat Trutanich by 12 points, eschewed tv advertising altogether, instead concentrating her campaign on securing key slate mailers. That, it seems, is what Trutanich is now saying caused his humiliating political castration, and he is laying the blame squarely at the feet of his former 'Ambassador of Quan' for failing to advise him to purchase slate mailers. 

It's a convenient argument, particularly as Trutanich owes Shallman an estimated $112,000 for the final tv ad media buys, and Trutanich apparently does not have any money in his campaign committee account to pay Shallman. Trutanich also faces a further hurdle finding supporters willing to help to retire his debt; most of his supporters have already given the maximum allowable contribution and, as Doug McIntyre recently commented, now that Trutanich has been 'Tagged with the big 'L' for 'LOSER,' the Scarlet ''L,' it's real hard to find anyone to write fresh checks.'

Some speculate that Trutanich's slate mailer blame shifting is most likely a ploy either to stall the issue of his indebtedness, or to try to renegotiate terms with Shallman who makes a handsome commission on media buys. Either way it's a ploy that fails to pass the straight face test. The notion that Trutanich lacked 'name recognition' is as hilariously ridiculous as most of his other campaign missteps and completely ignores the fact that while first-placed finisher Lacey did have slate mailers, the second-placed finisher, Alan Jackson, beat Trutanich by two points and did not have any slate mailers either.

The inconvenient truth about Trutanich is that with or without slate mailers, and despite a million dollar tv campaign, he could never, ever, overcome the negative name recognition which started the moment Trutanich reneged on his 'Pledge to Serve,' and continued throughout his campaign of facile,  deceptive and deceitful shenanigans. The voters of Los Angeles made it very clear that having let Trutanich make fools out of them once, they were not going to allow that to happen again.

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Carmen Trutanich Jose Huizar called 'Dickheads' over Dispensary ban

The Los Angeles Dragnet reports that Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich and Councilmember Jose Huizar have been called 'dickheads' by Death & Taxes, the entertainment industry news blog. 

(Credit: Los Angeles Dragnet)

Trutanich and Huizar are taken to task for their support and leadership of an ordinance to ban all medical marijuana dispensaries in the City of Los Angeles.

The ordinance, which received approval from the Los Angeles City Council, comes in the wake of a series of embarrassing failures by Trutanich to write an ordinance that limits the number of dispensaries to an acceptable level. Trutanich, enjoyed the support of the legitimate medical marijuana community when he ran for City Attorney because he promised to provide a workable ordinance to regulate the growing number of shops selling marijuana. But as soon as Trutanich took office he reneged on his promise and tried to 'regulate medical marijuana out of existence,' as one former supporter commented.

Trutanich likely saw the anti-medical marijuana lobby as key to his political ambition to become District Attorney. He tried to disguise his opposition to medical marijuana on public safety grounds, arguing that medical marijuana was unsafe because it might contain pesticide.


City Attorney Clashes with Speaker at 2009 Congress of Neighborhoods -Accused of Bullying, Questioned on Red Ant Theory from Michael N. Cohen on Vimeo.

However, when Kathryn Schorr, a cancer survivor questioned Trutanich's 'voodoo science' conclusions regarding the health risks arising from pesticide in medical marijuana, he became enraged and started screaming at the patient. His response to questions about the number of reports of persons injured by the use of pesticide treated medical marijuana was to shout 'Wrong! You're wrong!' at Schorr and scream at her to feed lead to her children, before telling her to 'Sit down and shut up.'

Video reporter Michael Cohen spoke to Schorr after her encounter with Trutanich. 'She appeared to be distraught and was crying and being comforted by a security guard and others. The security guard cautioned her not to drive home in her condition.' he said. 

'Schorr felt that Trutanich was overbearing and bullying her and he should have let her make her point without interference. That being, one needs 10 pounds to do a proper lab analysis of contaminants in marijuana. She had the floor and his insisting that she should give lead to her children was wrong. She said she couldn’t understand how an elected official could talk to her that way.' Cohen related.

Trutanich's attitude towards Ms Schorr shocked and surprised many who had supported his candidacy for City Attorney and did much to boost the reputation Trutanich was fast acquiring as a liar, bully and a thug. 'Anyone who could be so rude and violent towards a woman who was a cancer survivor has no place in public service; he looks like your typical woman-hater' and observer opined.

Trutanich suffered a humiliating defeat at the polls during the recent District Attorney primary election. The onetime front runner with a campaign warchest three times larger than his closest rival, lost so badly that he will likely never hold public office again - his own campaign adviser has apparently told him to to seek reelection. When Trutanich eventually spoke to reporters about the reasons for his downfall, he identified opposition from the medical marijuana community as one of the reasons why 78% of Los Angelenos did not vote for him.

That Trutanich is generally accepted as politcally 'toxic' and 'unelectable' makes it all the more surprising that Councilmember Huizar is willing to associate himself with the hugely unpopular politician. Huizar, who is also a licensed attorney, has been rumored to be considering running for City Attorney. Trutanich is unlikely to be able to raise enough money to mount a campaign and faces so many serious negatives that his only chance at reelection would be if he were to run unopposed.

Thus far Police Rights attorney Greg Smith, termed-out Assemblyman Mike Feuer and Deputy City Attorney Ed Angeles have formally announced their candidacies for the March 2013 election for City Attorney. Trutanich told the LA Times that he would announce his reelection committee this week, however, as we close, no announcement has been made.

Trutanich was last week reported to have over $154,000 of debts from his ill-fated District Attorney campaign. A volunteer spokesman later told times that Trutanich has reduced his debts to $112,000 leaving only the costs of tv ads unpaid. Should Truanich be unable to pay off his campaign debts, many believe this would represent a further barrier to Trutanich's reelection hopes.

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