Should L.A. reelect City Atty. Carmen Trutanich?

Monday night’s debate of the principal city attorney candidates at Temple Israel of Hollywood was the first time all four had shared a stage. Although devoted in part to questions of faith, morality and responsibility, the discussion also featured a number of sharp exchanges over the effectiveness of the incumbent, Carmen Trutanich, and the credentials and ideas of his challengers, Assemblyman Mike Feuer and private lawyers Noel Weiss and Greg Smith.

Smith, for instance, questioned whether voters should believe Trutanich, who once promised not to seek another office and then ran for Los Angeles district attorney. Trutanich suggested that Feuer’s lack of trial experience rendered him unfit for city attorney. Feuer, in turn, questioned some of the fundamentals of Trutanich’s record and argued that his own background as a leader of a legal services organization, a member of the City Council and a state assemblyman made him well qualified to run a legal office.

As part of the debate, the candidates fielded questions addressed to the entire panel, as well as ones that singled out each of the contenders. They also asked each other one question, which they addressed to a fellow candidate selected at random, and took a couple from the audience. I moderated the event, which you can watch above.

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