Garcetti Aide Tells Cooley to Sit Out News Conference

One of the downsides of running for political office against the boss is that, well, he’s still the boss.

Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley had to face that fact Monday, after he was ordered to stay away from a news conference being held by Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Antonovich--a longtime friend and political ally of Cooley’s--held the news conference to tout the success of a welfare fraud reward program being run by the county Department of Public Social Services. Cooley, who is challenging incumbent Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti, was invited to attend in his capacity as head of Garcetti’s welfare fraud unit.

But rather than give Cooley an opportunity to boast of his own success in combating welfare fraud, a top aide to Garcetti told him his services would not be needed, Cooley said.

“He basically told me that media relations people from the office had checked with Antonovich’s office and they had determined there was no need to appear,” Cooley said. “I respected their wishes, though I suspected their motives.”

The aide, Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael Tranbarger, was out of the office Monday and unavailable for comment. But the head of Garcetti’s media relations unit, Victoria Pipkin, confirmed the basic elements of Cooley’s account.

“The district attorney’s office did not send a representative to Supervisor Antonovich’s press conference. . . . That is true,” she said. “But I think it’s also important to point out that the supervisor is a longtime supporter of Mr. Cooley, who is running against Gil.”

A spokesman for Antonovich, Cam Currier, said Pipkin called him to say Garcetti would not be sending anyone. Cooley’s department is responsible for prosecuting those accused of criminal welfare fraud.

“It was, in a way, disappointing not to have Steve’s input,” he said. But he declined to comment on Garcetti’s motives.

Cooley has been widely praised for his stewardship of Garcetti’s welfare fraud unit. The unit was considered a backwater of the district attorney’s office when Cooley was transferred there from a much more prominent position as head deputy district attorney in the San Fernando branch office. The move was widely seen as punishment for Cooley’s support of John Lynch, who ran against Garcetti in 1996. But Cooley gained national attention for his success in the post, and was able to use it as a springboard to run against Garcetti this year.

Cooley finished first in a three-way primary in March, forcing a November runoff with Garcetti, who came in second.

Antonovich and Cooley have known each other since their student days at Cal State Los Angeles, where both were involved in campus politics and shared a conservative, Republican outlook. When Cooley received Cal State’s Outstanding Alumnus of the year award in 1998, it was Antonovich--a past recipient of the award--who presented it to him.

Cooley said he was disappointed by the decision to keep him from Antonovich’s news conference, which was held to announce that the welfare fraud hotline had saved an estimated $110 million since the We Tip program began in 1988. He added that he didn’t think Antonovich had invited him for political reasons. But he acknowledged that it was Garcetti’s prerogative to decide who would represent the district attorney’s office.

“I think their decision tromps all over the public’s right to know,” he said. “But nonetheless, they’re the bosses right now.”