Jackie Lacey: “The Voters are saying the D.A.’s office is not for sale.”

JACKIE SPEAKS

LA Now got these thoughts from Jackie Lacey on Wednesday morning, once her victory was confirmed.

“The voters are saying the D.A.’s office is not for sale, it’s not like any other political office,” said Lacey, who took 32% of the votes and in November’s runoff will face fellow prosecutor Alan Jackson, who won nearly 24% of the votes. The two candidates led the votes in a surprising upset over L.A. City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, who raised $1.5 million for the race and secured high-profile endorsements.

“It’s a great country when the person who raises the most money doesn’t win,” she said.

Lacey said she was concerned and intimidated “for a minute” at Trutanich’s endorsements, particularly when Gov. Jerry Brown backed the city attorney. “That was an interesting decision,” she said. She said her campaign then chose to move forward and put “one foot in front of the other.”

She said she would be scrambling to get endorsements from Brown, Sheriff Lee Baca and labor.

“We are making calls as we speak,” she said. “Given what I’ve read about the sheriff’s plans in the jails, and what the governor intends to do, we need to work as a team and we need to start today.”

Had she faced Trutanich in the runoff, Lacey said the campaign could have taken a turn for the nasty and that there could have been “blood on the walls…..”

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Lacey said this to The Wave in a Wednesday interview:

“I believe that the next D.A., who I believe will be myself, needs to be courageous and look at repositioning the justice system. There’s a better way to keep the community safe. We need to get people into rehab and mental health programs, and solve this problem forever, rather than have them going in and out of jail.”

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AND BACK AT THE TRUTANICH CAMP ON TUESDAY NIGHT

Frank Stoltze of KPCC was at Trutanich’s would be victory party on Tuesday night and posted a…very intriguing story about everyone’s reactions after it became clear that Jackie Lacey had zoomed past Trutanich in votes, and worse, he wouldn’t be in the runoff at all.

Here’s a clip:

….By 1 a.m., the candidate everyone thought was unbeatable — the one who’d outspent his opponents three to one – was beginning to explain his loss.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more vitriolic, negative campaign against anyone,” Trutanich said.

Trutanich complained of attacks by his opponents that distorted his record. His political consultant John Shallman echoed the sentiment.

“They had a pretty nice trap set when Trutanich got in the race,” Shallman said.

But many would argue that the trap was set by Trutanich himself when he pledged three years ago to serve out his term as city attorney before running for another office. Opponents called him a liar, and the campaign offered varying explanations for the switch. Trutanich called the pledge a “gimmick.” Shallman labeled it “silly and political.”

Some voters seemed unconvinced.

Trutanich also blamed the media, especially talk radio hosts who he said regularly attacked him. Shallman said he counted 42 negative news articles. He defended Trutanich’s decision to limit media interviews and debate appearances.

“I don’t know that there’s anything he could have done with the tidal wave of negativity,” Shallman said.

The LA Weekly’s Gene Maddeus was also at the non-victory party and had these nuggets.

Speaking to a dwindling group of supporters after 1 a.m., Trutanich did not concede, but blamed the media for a “major league onslaught” against his candidacy.

“Barack Obama is getting hammered right now,” Trutanich said. “I think the negative campaign against me is worse.”

[SNIP]

“….”I don’t know what we did wrong in terms of running the city of L.A.,” Trutanich told the crowd. “There’s absolutely no corruption in the city of Los Angeles, as far as the city attorney’s office goes. They hit me on street artists. I still think of it as graffiti. Obviously the marijuana crowd came out… We’ve done everything properly. There’s no shame in what we’ve done. Negative campaigns work.”

So-o-o-ooo….let me get this straight: Carmen Trutanich lost this election because of the mean media, the tagger backlash, and the weed-lovers political machine.

Okay. Got it.

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Lacey will face LA prosecutor Alan Jackson in November’s runoff race..

Trutanich told the LA Times that he will seek a second term as City Attorney. Assemblyman Mike Fuerer and others plan to run for the office as well. Feurer has already raised $345,000 toward the election, which will take place in November.

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Photo by Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times