LOS ANGELES -- With the Los Angeles city election eight days away, two candidates for city attorney announced a flurry of endorsements Monday.
City Councilman Jack Weiss received the support of seven environmentalists, including the current and past presidents of Heal the Bay, Mark Gold and Adi Liberman, respectively.
Weiss' opponent, Carmen Trutanich, listed himself as an environmental attorney on the March 3 ballot.
"I support Jack Weiss for city attorney. I believe that we need a city attorney who is honest about his record of getting things done," Liberman said.
Weiss also received the backing of environmental attorneys David Beckman, David Pettit and Tatiana Gaur; Steve Fleischli, president of Waterkeeper Alliance; and actor and environmentalist Ed Begley Jr.
A Trutanich campaign adviser defended the candidate's record on the environment and made note of Weiss' absence at a Monday morning news conference to announce his endorsements.
"Jack Weiss missed his own press conference and has been missing in action on the City Council," said John Shallman with the Trutanich campaign.
"He skipped 38 percent of council meetings and missed hundreds of votes to protect the environment," Shallman said. "As an environmental prosecutor, Carmen Trutanich tried the first felony environmental crime in the state of California and, unlike Jack Weiss, as city attorney he'll show up to work."
Another candidate for city attorney, Michael Amerian, was endorsed Monday afternoon by City Controller Laura Chick.
"He is a career prosecutor -- not a politician," Chick said of the deputy city attorney.
"Michael Amerian will bring honor and integrity back to the City Attorney's Office ... Michael Amerian will be a city attorney who we can be proud of," she said.
