First in a series
[img]1610|left|Mike Feuer||no_popup[/img]Regardless of where you were or what you did last night, the best show in town inarguably unfolded in the cafeteria of sprawling Notre Dame High School in the East Valley.
The race to be City Attorney of Los Angeles sometimes resembles a showdown after midnight at the pier.
In this corner, West Los Angeles state Assemblyman Mike Feuer, who looks and speaks like the handsome product that the Westside typically exports. Smart, sophisticated man of the people, well-coiffed curly hair, permanently youthful. At 54 years old, he almost could be mistaken for a peer of his son and daughter who are at Yale.
In that corner, City Atty. Carmen Trutanich who also, unmistakably, reflects his San Pedro roots. Could have just walked up from the docks. Sixty-one years old, a brawler, combative whether asleep or awake, a proud family man and a professional who has soared to the top dares anyone to knock that block off his right shoulder. Carved out of rough wood, built to last two days past forever.
What made the matchup before hundreds of well-behaved members of the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Assn. so richly appealing was the best gimmick of all that this time was true:
They do not like each other.
Their styles clash as sharply as their tongues and minds collide.
Mr. Feuer addressed his rival as “Mr. Trutanich.”
Far more casual, Mr. Trutanich consistently referred to his opponent as “Mike.”
This is an old-fashioned charge-slinging race made for the big screen.
Protesting that he was not a politician, Mr. Trutanich ran four years ago on a loudly publicized pledge not to run for higher office – until he declared for District Attorney a year and a half after taking office. His run ended in the mud last spring when he was skunked at the polls.
And that messy memory was not even brought up last night.
(To be continued)
