Trutanich withdraws from debates, claims Weiss is using 'smear tactics'

Los Angeles city attorney candidate Carmen Trutanich has withdrawn from his planned Tuesday debate with City Councilman Jack Weiss. And all future debates, for that matter.

Former Los Angeles Planning Commission President Jane Usher, now a campaign volunteer for Trutanich, broke the news in an e-mail today to event sponsors Town Hall Los Angeles.

Usher said "the Weiss campaign has demeaned every joint appearance" made by the two candidates in the May 19 runoff election. "At each debate location, the focus has been diverted away from decency and the issues that voters care about. Instead, Weiss operatives have regaled the guests and us with staged antics and a stream of disruption from planted audience members. These theatrics have been the sole purpose of candidate Weiss and his campaign team. No more. We will no longer provide these moments for the Weiss troupe to practice its smear tactics."

Weiss campaign spokesman Ace Smith responded to the Trutanich withdrawal by echoing charges that his candidate has routinely made during debate appearances: "He's hiding from voters because he doesn't want them to know that Carmen Trutanich is on the payroll of the NRA, gun merchants and polluters."

Trutanich, a former assistant district attorney now in private practice, has a law partner who has represented gun groups. But Trutanich says he has not.

Usher wrote that the tipping point for Trutanich came at Wednesday's debate at the Westside Jewish Community Center. "The Weiss campaign erected a giant 25-foot rat directly in front of the Jewish center on Olympic Boulevard," Usher said. "The Weiss campaign's use of the rat outside of a prominent Jewish civic center, as part of a campaign stunt, was highly insensitive and disturbing."

The debate hosts that night, Usher said, "were never able to regain control."

"We will not appear at another public forum with Mr. Weiss," she said.

—William Nottingham

Comments

[Ken H]

Weiss is the cliche of a politician neck-deep in a losing campaign. He doesn't want to debate real issues because he knows he can't win that way. Alas, Mr. Weiss, the large rat is you -- and as far as this campaign goes: you are drowning.

[trae]

After watching clips of Weiss and Trutanitch at debates and the press following, I support Tutanitch on this move. After all wasn't it Weiss who refused to debate any of the candidates in the November 08 election. His behavior and disrespect for his opponent as well as the communites that have invited both candidates to debate is not a candidate I will give my vote to.

[dar horn]

Wow! A giant rat in front of a Jewish community center. Wasn't that one of the propaganda symbols used by the Nazis and now by the Palestinians? What a shanda, Jack Weiss. It offends me and I'm not even Jewish.

[sean]

It's really shocking that the Times doesn't mention the sleazy smear campaign that Trutanich has been running from the very start, in his mailers and website which are indisputable, yet puts up a headline like this leaving Trutanich's own lies to stand as usual. This would never have happened when the Times had experienced staff who vetted candidates and didn't just reprint their own PR statements as facts.

The fact that he's gotten away with so many lies told in a way that's a stunning new low for citywide office, and been rewarded for it by the Times editorial board and this section, has made him cocky and even more arrogant than he is as his known trademark. When finally confronted with his own lies and words he plays the victim (another Trutanich known technique as "the San Pedro fixer" for the very worse criminals) and once again the Times rewards him for it.

This Trutanich has been a disgrace to the city and the office from the start. when urged to run for his own personal reasons (which we have heard much speculation about) by DA Steve Cooley. Having run on nothing more than a negative, nasty campaign about himself and his opponent from the start, playing on people's fears, looks to me that once a little light was shined on his dark sewer, Trutanich's cynically fake campaign just imploded by its own dirty tricks.

[Outraged]

The use of a rat in front of a Jewish center shows extreme insensitivity. Jane Usher and Carmen Trutanich are correct.

One the the most horrendous Nazi propaganda films, "Der ewige Jude," portrayed Jews as rats as a way to validate their extinction. A description of the film states "Nazi filmmakers also turned their cameras on their victims, methodically reducing the popular perception of Jews to that of vermin, fit only for extermination. "

A quote from the film (please excuse the reprinting of this racist filth, but it is important to understand the historical insult Weiss used in his quest to be City Attorney):

"Wherever rats appear they bring ruin, by destroying mankind's goods and foodstuffs. In this way, they (the rats) spread disease, plague, leprosy, typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and so on They are cunning, cowardly, and cruel, and are found mostly in large packs. Among the animals, they represent the rudiment of an insidious and underground destruction - just like the Jews among human beings."

This insensitivity and willingness to violate all standards of ethical behavior is what we have seen from Jack Weiss during his career as a City Councilman. He has been and continues to be willing to cross legal, moral and ethical boundaries to advance to higher office.

In both 2001 and 2005, Jack Weiss put out a mailer that stated "When they burn a house of worship, they burn everybody's house." Jack Weiss, through his insensitivity and complete moral bankruptcy, have insulted a house of worship and thus insulted everyone.

Weiss' actions are unacceptable and Trutanich is correct to deny Weiss a chance to spread even more filth. Three of the upcoming debates were to be held at Jewish centers or temples.

Trutanich made a hard choice to protect Jews from further degradation by Jack Weiss and his thugs. He did so even though he was going to get criticized for doing so. That is real leadership.

I hope Jewish and non-Jewish leaders from across the city call on Jack Weiss to renounce his actions and apologize to the community for exposing them to his truly unconscionable behavior.

[Natalia]

This is dirty politics. Trutanich is running from Jack Weiss. The public have the right to hear Jack Weiss and Trutanich is not being fair. Jack has agreed to attend debates and he's not being allowed to. It's typical of a politician to fight dirty and because of this Jack will have to advertise instead of giving more money to the DNA and trying to save the ecosystem of Los Angeles. I hope everyone realizes what is going on here.

[jay]

Another biased article from the Times slanted to Trutanich.

Any sense of balance would have noted that Trutanich used nasty smear tactics from the start, with nasty "Mother Goose" themed mailers turning the childhood icon on its head into the sewer, with putting Weiss's head on animals and a whole section of Trutanich's site false labeled "Initiatives" to lure the reader into a series of attacks on Weiss.

All to distract from fact that Trutanich has run on lies about his record, based on what he did back over 23 years ago in the 80's while hiding from his real record.

Known as the "controversial San Pedro fixer," the go-to guy when you want someone who will take on the slimiest clients and go dirty to try to win, Trutanich himself has marveled that his act got by the Times as long as it did because Weiss's campaign apparently didn't want to descend into Trutanich's level.

All Trutanich hoped to keep doing was to stand there and "try" Weiss for his record to deflect from what he did himself, which he wouldn't reveal who his clients are and how much they'd cost the city -- like Trutanich says, when you're ashamed of your record, attack your opponent, which is all he's ever done.

Weiss has a long record in public service that is well known and supported by his many endorsements: on all the main issues from public service/DNA/ growing LAPD/ anti-terrorism work with many law enforcement agencies.

It's Weiss who's the real environmental defender in public and civic life, while the only endorsements Trutanich could scare up in that area were some people who knew him in the 80's during his brief stint as public defender before he worked for the opposite side.

Of course managing any kind of endorsement is hard for his amateur campaign: they had to cancel a conference showcasing some DA's from other Counties when none of them showed, either not knowing they were supposed to or never having even promised to according to yesterday's Daily Journal. Of course, these were people who were all beholden to DA Cooley and were recruited by his sponsor DA Steve Cooley, people sharing his Republican bent, putting a lie to any claims to be apolitical. Here too Trutanich has a clear political agenda but just tries to hide it.

Trutanich just woke up one day and after not even ever voting in L A let alone holding office or even a volunteer position on a commission, nothing, he decided he can run for office doing what he's done as a criminal lawyer. Now that he's being called on it and realized he can't keep running on lies and smears about is opponent, he's playing the victim.

[suhina]

As for the rat, it belongs to a union whose strike Nuch busted up a few years ago amd they've brought it to other events as well to let people know Trutanich's real record when it comes to working people. That's democracy for you, nothing to do with the Weiss campaign from what I've seen. And karma too, when you do things to hurt people sometimes it comes back to haunt you -- in this case in the form of a rat.

Trutanich trying to play this as an anti-semitic twist against Weiss, who's been perhaps the strongest defender of the Jewish community this decade, is another sickening example of his opportunistic amorality, given the paucity of his own record and lack of any integrity.

[Jim Thomas]

Wow that is some Rovian politics. Because a union mad about a candidate's representation of anti-union companies stages a demonstration using a traditional symbol targeting strikebreaks Ms. Usher concludes the following:

1. Her candidate's Jewish opponent is anti-semitic

2. Her candidate, who claims to be tough enough to face a gangmember - is absolved of his responsibility to face the public

personally I saw the rat and think its a silly sideshow but what is offensive here is Ms. Usher's absurd spinning...that is insulting to our intelligence

[Marco]

The jews I saw on Wednesday were not upset at the rat, and anyway Jack Weiss is jewish so it makes no sense. Also Latino's are called rats but no Latino is upset and many Latinos support Jack Weiss. Calling a person a rat is not the same as using a racial word, so all Jack Weiss is doing is his job to tell Trutanich to stop.

[Jim Thomas]

This is Rovian politics at its worst.

From the fact that a union brought a rat to a debate (the traditional symbol used against people involved in union busting)

The Trutanich campaign implies his Jewish opponent is making an anti-semitic reference

and that he dosen't have to face the public anymore...

I've seen these debates, both sides were rowdy but the debates were informative and this is a shame...

[Kathrine]

I was there the Rat in question didn't even belong to any of the campaigns and one of Trutanich's "people" called the police to remove it. But it was legal unlike the boombox playing the song "hit the road jack' the cops made Trutanich's people turn it off because it was plugged into private property. And the crowd was rowdy on both sides as KCAL reported that night. There were fans of both sides there who were yelling and jumping and while candidates were speaking the crowd was pretty tame for that size. That night Jack Weiss stayed on topic, the issues and Trutanich was incoherent, most of the time I could hardly understand a sentence.

[anthony]

No integrity as a councilperson and no integrity as a LA City Attorney candidate...............That is the true Jack Weiss.............Vote this desperate clown out of office and into political irrelevance.

[mickey]

Trutanich has done nothing but run a campaign of lowclass lies and smears from the time he burst out of his sewer in San Pedro where he's known as "the fixer." The "go-to" guy "on speed dial" for criminals like rapists and toxic polluters who need someone down and dirty enough to pull no punches attacking the victims to turn the tables on them, to trash the victims to try to make the criminals look like the innocent victims. What he's trying to do here to hide his refusal to come clean about himself.

I saw the debate and he tried to keep Weiss from talking about his record and plans as City Attorney by hijacking the debate with the usual sound-bites full of lies.

Meanwhile he wouldn't let Weiss get a word in edgewise about his own long list of accomplishments on public safety from DNA rape evidence kits to anti-terrorism to protective and cleaning up the environment. He loves soundbites like the 33% statistic which only means a councilmember is serving constituents elsewhere or in meetings or some other excused absence.

While Trutanich hasn't done a civic thing in recent decades, not even held a neighborhood council office or volunteered on a commission, never even voted in an L A city election, so all he's got is smears and now that he wasn't playing before a rigged audience like his February "debate" he packs up his toys and runs home.

[nancy]

My friend lives on Trutanich's canal in Naples, Long Beach, where Trutanich's house won most lavish holiday decorations at least 2-3 years in a row including 2006, 2006, and I think 2007 when he was forced to move to San Pedro to carpetbag into L A to be eligible to run for the office.

He hates San Pedro and calls it a name I can't repeat here, and he hates the rest of the city especially "those westside Jewish liberals" even more. What a farce that he's ipretending to care about their causes. He just wants their money and the "revenge vote" of those who hate City Hall. Even if you're in that group you'd better open your eyes about who Carmen Trutanich really is.

It's typical of Trutanich that he would spend a fortune decorating his house to win an award and get attention for himself instead of giving some of it to charity and he has not devote his time to any volunteer civic duty being too busy trying to amass more money by defending thugs and rapists.

Everything they say about Trutanich's record is true, about getting off the worst kinds of people, and not only that but he has managed to get both the City Attorney's office and DA to not even file charges against some of his clients, and he's boasted about his inside connections as a way to land clients. Now he's denying it. Those who know him best can't believe he'd have the nerve to run for City Attorney after he's been the people's worst nightmare..

Everyone knows he loves his Long Beach house and hates San Pedro and detests the rest of L A. Everything he says to the contrary is a lie because he'll say and do anything to win and has no real convictions, just like as a lawyer. He should be sent packing to go back and compete for more flashy holiday decoration awards.

[Anon]

If Trutancih can't stand up for himself in a mere debate, how is he going to stand up for the people of Los Angeles in court? What a wimp!

[Shame on you Carmen Trutanich]

If a candidate dosen't want to be depicted as a rat by angry unions then maybe they should send out mailers depicting their opponent as a dog...

or maybe nobody should ever blatantly and utterly without basis play the anti-semitism card against a devoutly jewish candidate...

that is outrageously cynical politics and as a member of the Jewish community I am outraged