EMERGING DETAILS: Why District Attorney Steve Cooley Wants NOTHING TO DO WITH (DUMPED!) Carmen Trutanich (Same Reasons He Sickened The REST of Us!)

GREAT POST ON WHY SALLY DUMPED HARRY, I MEAN WHY COOLEY DUMPED TRUTANICH. (Same shit that pissed off ZD and the rest of the city.) DOUCHETANICH!

EXCERPT FROM: Cooley Cools It With Trutanich – It’s Official, Trutanich “Not Up To The Job!” Posted on May 23, 2011

by losangelesdragnet

Although the Dragnet first reported the breakdown in the close relationship between LA District Attorney Steve Cooley and City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, it took a little time for the mainstream media to confirm the rumor.

It's over - rumored rift between Cooley and Trutanich confirmed

Rick Orlov at the Los Angeles Daily News reports that “Cooley became disenchanted with Trutanich shortly after he was sworn in.”

“”It was becoming clear, across the board, that (Cooley) did not believe Trutanich was up to the job,” said a Cooley political adviser.”

Orlov’s confirmation of the bust-up of the former bffs was also picked up by Kevin Roderick at LA Observed.

Both sources report that the bust-up occurred shortly after Trutanich was sworn into office. Readers will recall that Trutanich swiftly set about defining his administration as one of sound-bites and grandstanding, with Trutanich’s ill-fated accusation of “criminal aspects” to Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG’s) handling of the Michael Jackson Memorial. This was equally swiftly followed up with Trutanich’s alleged threats to arrest Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry and a number of City employees over the granting of billboard permits at AEG’s new downtown movie complex.

Sources close to Trutanich said that they were “shocked” that within 3 days of taking office, Trutanich seemed to care little for a ‘head-to-toe” evaluation of the way the City Attorney’s Office could be improved, and was “obsessed” with taking on AEG over the Jackson Memorial with “little or no evidence of any criminal wrongdoing.”

Such internal disapproval surely found its way to Cooley, who probably also felt that Trutanich had become intoxicated with hogging the headlines instead of doing the job he was elected to do. Cooley is believed to have likened Trutanich’s antics to exceed even those of his “press release a day” predecessor Rocky Delgadillo.

The straw that probably broke the camel’s back is believed to have occurred in November 2010, when Cooley learned of Trutanich’s intention to run for District Attorney in violation of a sworn campaign pledge not to use the City Attorney’s Office as a springboard for higher office.

Apparently, Trutanich did not have the courage to reveal his intentions to Cooley, and Cooley only learned of Trutanich’s treachery when a longtime political aide informed Cooley that he had been hired to work on the Trutanich DA campaign.

Although Orlov reports that “Both sides say, for the record, there is no major rift between the two,” sources inform us on background that the pair “hardly speak” except when forced to appear at public events where both have been scheduled to appear.

READ MORE (continue)- See Original Post on L.A. Dragnet Blog

Assistant L.A. City Attorney David Berger Clarifies LA Times Article on Medical Marijuana And Discusses Future Of L.A. Medical Marijuana

"We made a commitment to the legitimate medical marijuana community that we would see that they could continue their mission and we are committed to that. Anyone who needs medical marijuana should be able to get it through a collective legitimately." - David Berger, Assistant L.A. City Attorney (ZumaShow.com)

Wow, newspapers should start to operate under the same journalistic standards as bloggers...at least the Zuma Report journalistic standard. We try not to play "gotcha" and try to take something out of context.

Zuma Dogg and many others from the medical marijuana community were alarmed by comments in the Los Angeles Times, this week, where Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley was quoted as saying, "The vast, vast, vast majority, about 100%, of dispensaries in Los Angeles County and the city are operating illegally..."

To Zuma Dogg and others, this can be interpreted as feeling there should be NO medical marijuana being distributed, at all and you fundamentally reject the will of California State law as mandated by voters.

CityWatch - DA Cooley: All LA Pot Shops are Illegal

By Celeste Fremon (Posted first at WitnessLA.com) He said WHAT???? Yes, marijuana clinics need to be regulated, and, yes, the City Council has zero excuse for their positively absurd slow-dragging on the matter, but what in the world is this about? Here’s the opening of the LA Times article that explains the newest ill-considered initiative that appears to be coming out of the offices of Mr. Cooley and Mr. Trutanich. Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley said today that all the medical marijuana dispensaries in the county are operating illegally, and that “they are going to be prosecuted.” [See how it spins FURTHER out of control. Because now Cooley's out of context comments are being misquoted, because even LA Times said, "about all," not all.And then CityWatch reprints it, even further.]

And today, I received a call from someone from within the Medical Marijuana (Medi-juana) community saying that a "recall" was being discussed for certain elected officials and was hoping for my participation.

WELL, after being hot under the beanie over this for a couple days, and now it appearing to spin all out of control, I wanted to try to find out for myself the attitude of the D.A. and City Attorney's office on the matter and see how Cooley could be appearing (along with Trutanich) to be trying to shut down Medical Marijuana, against the will of California voters and State Law.

So I called the highly-respected, voice of reason, Assistant City Attorney David Berger (out of Trutanich's L.A. City Attorney Office), who has also worked in Steve Cooley's D.A. office.

Mr. Berger was with Mr. Cooley when he was quoted in L.A. Times and says the paper took the District Attorney out of context, since Cooley immediately clarified himself, but Times still printed the pre-clarification, "nearly 100%" comment that got ZD and others all in a tizzy.

Here are his comments from the phone conversation posted on the BlogTalkRadio widget on the right hand side of this blog:

"Just to set the record clear; I was present when Mr. Cooley made those remarks and he immediately corrected himself. He basically said he didn't mean all of them, he said, 'most' of them. And I can understand that would also would cause medical marijuana community, the legitimate community to have some concerns. Because it sounds like we're targeting everyone." - David Berger (10/13/2009 Zuma Show)

In the interview he goes as far as saying the Times took things, "out of context."

Something compelling Berger told me in the conversation that prompted this "on-air" interview (See BlogTalkRadio embedded player on right hand of this blog) that in a random check by Trutanich's City Attorney's office, high levels of pesticides were found in medical marijuana samples gathered by the office and tested by the FDA (not DEA, FDA). Signs of the pesticide mentioned in the interview indicates the marijuana was grown in Mexico or Texas. This would be in violation of State law. Along with some other issues.

I found this to be compelling and the final straw to ask if he could set the record straight with a phone call we could air on BlogTalkRadio. ZD found this to be VERY compelling and Berger replied, "This is not secret information. We made it available to L.A. Times and others." (Hear interview.)

But the main thing is to highlight THIS portion of the L.A. Times interview that kind of gets lost in the mix of the other comments: Cooley said he believes that under state law, collectives must raise their own marijuana and can only recoup their costs. "That's absolutely legal," he said. "We're going to respect that." But he said none of them currently do that.

(SEE LA TIMES GOES STARTING TROUBLE BY SAYING, "BUT HE SAID NONE OF THEM CURRENTLY DO THAT." Can you please post the unedited transcript of the interview?)

MEANWHILE, no way I can take any of THIS out of context. Thank you so much to David Berger for hopping on the Zuma Show LIVE call-in phone lines to help clarify. AND, ALTHOUGH HE DOES A GREAT JOB CLARIFYING AND EXPLAINING THE POSITION OF THE D.A. & CITY ATTORNEY'S OFFICE...it doesn't mean everyone is going to like it.

But the point is, the law enforcers of the city and county feel the State law is one thing, and what has been turned into a perversion of this law with 800-900 collectives in operation in L.A. City alone is something else.

Berger suggests putting "recreational marijuana" on the ballot if that's what the people want, but the law currently in place is NOT IT!

Full Audio Interview if you can't find BlogTalkRadio embedded widget on right hand side of this blog. You can hear all live streams and hear all previous episodes here on the blog.

Blog Reader Weighs In on Tamar Galatzan's Un-Ethical LAUSD (Campaign?) Mailers

[Don't they look good together? And she's endorsed by City Councilmember Tom LaBong. So that means she's on the list of "approved political insiders" who will play the game and keep everything covered up. PLUS, she LOVES Jack Weiss. JUST ASK HER!]

Here is a comment someone posted on Mayor Sam's blog in response to the LAUSD mailers Tamar Galatzan just happened to be sent out right as absentee ballots are being sent out in the City Council CD2 Election. I LIKE THIS even though it all may actually be legal in the long run:

"Is Tamar Galatzan Using LAUSD Taxpayer Money to Campaign for City Council?"

A city official and an elected official using her position and taxpayer dollars to promote herself 4 weeks before an election and right when absentee voters are getting ballots is not only stupid, it is illegal and the definition of political corruption.

She will have to prove that the mailer went out to every single resident of her School Board district--rather than just the portion that overlaps CD2. If she, in any way, targeted the mailer she will probably go to jail.

This is pretty simple, black and white and easy for investigators to prove.

Politicians make decisions like this--sometimes out of ignorance and sometimes out of desperation. But almost always out of some sense of entitlement and arrogance.

LAUSD Parents will not respond well to this. There's no question she's out of the race. Probably will need to resign--creating another special election.

[I don't know about having to resign and all that...but this don't look good for Tamar. That's why you should always wait a little bit to see how things shake out before you jump on a lame horse who stumbles right out of the gate. Oh well...I FEEL GREAT ABOUT MY MOMENTUM!!!

I was GOING to offer Tamar a job as legislative deputy if I win for her support, but after today...I don't think I can touch her. Sorry.]