Weiss to Run for City Attorney

Los Angeles Councilman Jack Weiss confirmed Thursday that he intends to run for city attorney in 2007 if incumbent City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo makes a successful bid in November to become the next state attorney general.

If Delgadillo wins, Weiss said he would run for city attorney in a special election that would presumably be next year. If Delgadillo loses, Weiss said he would run in 2009 when Delgadillo is termed out of office.

“I’m running because I’ve been a prosecutor,” Weiss, a former federal prosecutor, said. “I know what it means to look a defendant and jury in the eye and I want to be in a law enforcement position.”

Weiss announced his intention to run on the same day that former Assembly speaker and mayoral candidate Bob Hertzberg said publicly that he also was interested in the job of city attorney.

Hertzberg made his comments at a breakfast event at the Jewish Home for the Aging on Thursday and later confirmed them in an interview.

“I’m thinking about it and keeping it out there as a possibility,” Hertzberg said. “I have plenty of time -- in the meantime, I’ll continue to be provocative and controversial and all the things that I like to be.”

Both Weiss and Hertzberg have been long rumored to be interested in replacing Delgadillo, who is vying for the Democratic nomination for state attorney general against Oakland mayor and former governor Jerry Brown.

The city attorney race -- should it even occur -- is also made interesting by both men’s relationships with Mayor Antonio Villaraiogsa.

During last year’s mayoral campaign, Weiss was Villaraigosa’s most ardent supporter on the council, and the presumption in City Hall was that Weiss, in addition to his dislike of then-Mayor James K. Hahn’s performance, was hoping to secure Villaraigosa’s endorsement in a city attorney’s race.

Although Hertzberg ran against Villaraigosa for mayor, he was once Villaraigosa’s roommate when they worked together in the state Assembly in Sacramento. After losing to Villaraigosa in the mayoral primary, Hertzberg headed up Villaraigosa’s transition team last year.

Weiss represents the city’s 5th District, which spans the Santa Monica Mountains and includes Century City, Westwood, the Fairfax District, Encino, Sherman Oaks and Valley Village.

He was reelected to a second term last March and is the second sitting member of the council to announce he’s seeking a different job. Alex Padilla is running for the state Senate and is opposing Assemblywoman Cindy Montanez (D-San Fernando) for the Democratic nomination.