[Editor’s Note: In an attempt to present balanced coverage of the City Attorney’s race, here are separate partisan reports from each camp, Mr. Trutanich first, followed by Mr. Feuer.]
Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich took the high road on Wednesday night and chose not to respond in-kind to attacks leveled against him by the Mike Feuer campaign’s surrogate at the SEIU endorsement conference.
“Frankly these attacks were a surprise and a disappointment,” said Rick Taylor, the Trutanich campaign’s chief strategist.
It seems the Feuer campaign is playing politics-as-usual even though Mr. Trutanich graciously decided to hold off on criticizing Mr. Feuer while Mr. Feuer remains hospitalized after a traffic accident that has made it impossible for him to personally campaign.
The best interpretation of what happened at the SEIU event is that it was an example of disarray in the Feuer campaign.
It is possible that the hospitalized Mr. Feuer was unaware his surrogate (a former city controller) and his campaign consultant were in attack-dog mode. Maybe his consultant and surrogate believe they can attack Mr. Trutanich with impunity because Trutanich would look “bad” if he returned their fire while Mr. Feuer was “defenseless,” Mr. Taylor said.
“But I've got to say that our campaign will not observe a self-imposed cease-fire if these attacks continue,” he added. “We will not let the Feuer campaign take advantage of Trutanich’s good intentions and his sincere prayers for Assemblyman Feuer’s speedy recovery.
“Once again we challenge the Feuer campaign to honor our ‘keep-it-positive’ commitment during this trying time for Mr. Feuer,” said Mr. Taylor.
The Other Side
For the Feuer campaign, Dave Jacobson reported: Adding another significant labor endorsement to his list of supporters, Mike Feuer yesterday won a highly coveted endorsement from the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770, in his City Attorney campaign.
Local 770 represents over 32,000 workers in the retail food, meat, drug stores, packing houses, food processing plants, pharmacies, laboratories as well as barbers and beauticians.
“We are pleased to endorse Mike Feuer for Los Angeles City Attorney,” said Rick Icaza, President of UFCW Local 770. “His long list of accomplishments combined with his strong leadership skills and vision are just what Los Angeles needs from their next City Attorney. Mike has our full support.”
“This is a tremendous endorsement, and I am delighted to have the support of UFCW Local 770,” said Mr. Feuer. “Their endorsement demonstrates the surge of support my campaign has received recently from organized labor. I plan on working closely with them in this campaign and beyond.”
Beyond this announcement, Mr. Feuer has built up a strong list of endorsements from organized labor groups including: California Nurses Assn. (CNA), UA Local 78 Plumbers, Laborers (LiUNA) Local 777 United Public Employees of CA, Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 1277, United Steel Workers (USW), Communications Workers of America (CWA) Southern California Council, Operating Engineers (I.U.O.E.) Local 501, Transportation Communication Union (TCU) Local 1315, Utility Workers Union of America Local 132, and the Iron Workers Local 416.
Mr. Schwada, director of communications for the Trutanich campaign, may be contacted at John.schwada@gmail.com
Mr. Jacobson of the Feuer campaign, may be contacted at Dave.r.jacobson@gmail.com
