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One-on-One with Carmen Trutanich by Tony Medley I met Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich, a candidate
for Los Angeles City Attorney, at his TONY Tell me how you decided to become a lawyer. CARMEN
After I got my Master’s Degree, I went to work
for Star Kist foods in their procurement department with my uncle. He
ultimately died on The Great Barrier Reef in TONY
What CARMEN
TONY You could try cases when you weren’t a member of the Bar? CARMEN
Yes, as long as you try them under the
supervision of a lawyer and you’re certified from an ABA-accredited
school. I enjoyed it. I said, "this is what I really want to do." I
don’t want to be a businessman. My wife and I were poor. She was making
$1100 a month as a flight attendant and I was making nothing, $200 a
week as a watchman at the Star Kist cannery. I’d work 24-hour shifts. My
wife and I got married on TONY How did you end up with the D.A.? CARMEN
We did pretty well. We bought a house, but we
were house poor. My business was doing well, but I didn’t have the
confidence in my abilities. I knew I’d be a good lawyer if I had the
opportunity to really get good. I’m working 20 hours a day. I used to
get up at TONY Your wife didn’t object to going from $80,000 a year to $17,000? CARMEN I married a saint. She knew it was the best thing for me career-wise. TONY How long were you there? CARMEN
Eight years, then in 1988 I went out on my own
with a big firm, Bronson, Bronson, & McKenna as a litigator. After a
year one of the partners asked if I wanted to break away and start our
own firm. I said yes. He ran the TONY Why? CARMEN It just created a different feel to the firm, him not being there. Rex was always my buffer with the other partners. So when Rex left, I left. I built the new firm up from two lawyers to 18 lawyers now. TONY Why would you want to leave that for politics? CARMEN
In 2006, I got a call from Rocky (Delgadillo,
current LA City Attorney) to help him in his transition because his
chief deputy had left the office, retired. I left private practice to
come and help him. I stayed about four months. I had an opportunity to
see the office. I had the opportunity to forge a relationship with (LA
District Attorney) Steve Cooley and (LA County Sheriff) Lee Baca. When I
went back into private practice I kept up my relationships with Steve
and Lee. In September of 2007, I got a call from Steve saying, “ He said, “No. We want you to run for City Attorney. We want someone there who is competent and honest and will do a good job.” What do you do when the Sheriff and the DA of LA County put that mano pesado (heavy hand) on you? TONY Did you know you were going to be hit with all this dirt that’s been thrown at you by your opponent Jack Weiss? It’s the dirtiest campaign I’ve ever seen. CARMEN
What do you expect? Jack Weiss has Ace Smith
running his campaign. Smith (a TONY You’ve been throwing the dirt back, too. CARMEN What I’m throwing is not dirt. It’s his record. There’s a difference. He’s distorting and making things up. For example, the big allegation from him is, “You represent the NRA.” I’ve never represented the NRA. One of my partners has the NRA as a client. You’ve never seen my name on a pleading for the NRA. You’ve never seen Carmen Trutanich appearing for the NRA. Never happened. But that’s what you’re hearing. He’s stretching the truth.
Another one of his attacks is “he’s representing
polluters.” I represent a mom and pop cleaning shop that gets in trouble
with some of the local ordinances. He claims they are the worst
polluters in TONY Where are you on gun control? CARMEN The law provides that people can carry guns, but it also leaves it to the discretion of the sheriff or chief of police in that city to make a decision as to what they want to do. That’s in their discretion. That’s something that would not be in my purview as City Attorney. If you don’t agree with the exercise of their discretion, you have the right to bring a lawsuit. But I don’t think it’s the obligation of the City Attorney to determine whether or not he has abused his discretion. TONY Is the Mayor behind you? CARMEN (pause) Do I sound like someone who would have the Mayor behind him? (laughs) TONY If you had known how dirty the campaign was going to be, would you have gotten into it? CARMEN It’s not dirty. TONY I think it’s the dirtiest campaign I’ve ever seen. Weiss has made it dirty. CARMEN Yes, but I’m not afraid of Jack Weiss. TONY But how has it affected your family? CARMEN
My family knows me. I’m a decent guy. They know
that. They’ve had 31 years of being around me. Walk down to San Pedro
and ask people about me. Ask them what they think of Jack Weiss and his
commercials. Half that town I don’t know. But the other half knows me
and they spread the word. Jack Weiss couldn’t sully my reputation if he
had a million commercials. At the end of the day, I am who I am and the
minute people meet me, they can size me up. They know I’m a straight
shooter. I’m an honest guy. I speak my mind. I try to be as articulate
as I can. Screw Ace Smith and Jack Weiss if they want to tell lies. I
don’t care about them. I care about the people of
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