| Los Angeles Dragnet |
Among all the tinhorn dictators who rail against California’s liberal medical marijuana laws, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich — notorious for his rabid anti-cannabis stance — stands out for his constant hotdogging and grandstanding on the issue.
Officials with three law enforcement organizations said they have yet to formally decide whom to back — if anyone — in this year’s race for Los Angeles district attorney, reports Jack Leonard at the Los Angeles Times. Trutanich, the obvious frontrunner, is now in political hot water after falsely claiming several key supporters, including the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association, the Los Angeles School Police Association, and the National Association of Prosecuting Attorneys.
The supposed endorsements were news to the respective organizations. Officials with the three groups told The Times last week that they were “surprised” to learn that Trutanich has claimed they are endorsers, saying their organizations have yet to formally decide whom, if anyone, to back in this year’s race to become L.A. County’s top prosecutor.
| LAist |
| Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association presidente Marshall McClain called Trutanich’s claims “shady” and “troubling” |
”Pretty shady” and “troubling” are the words Marshall McClain, president of the Los Angeles Airport Peace Officers Association, described Trutanich’s claim. McClain said his union’s board of directors backed Trutanich three years ago in his bid for city attorney, but has not even interviewed him for the upcoming district attorney election.
“The question is, how did it happen?” McClain said. “I like to hope and think that … it is a simple error and not some kind of an end game or nefarious plan or plot.”
Others weren’t so optimistic.
“Just a little insight into the prick we call Trutanich,” said Brett Stone, manager of a Yahoo Groups email list covering marijuana. “You would think that a candidate for DA and the current city attorney would tell the truth.”
“He calls marijuana dispensaries a menace,” Stone said. “I call him a menace and wish we had a 1,000-foot buffer zone around him and all politicians to protect the children.”
Trutanich’s senior political advisor, John Shallman, hastily issued a statement claiming the error was a “miscommunication.” Shallman claimed that the list of endorsements included only organizations and people who backed Trutanich’s successful 2009 race for city attorney.
But the list did not mention some of Trutanich’s key supporters in that election — including the union that represents Los Angeles police officers — and the list does include at least one organization that did not endorse him in 2009.
When asked about the discrepancies, another of Trutanich’s harried political advisors released an “amended” statement claiming that Trutanich “made a mistake by listing some organizations who have not yet made an endorsement in the race.”
“It was rushed,” Shallman claimed. “The wrong people were involved in putting it together, and those people won’t be involved again. We have apologized for the mistakes.”