Scholar and political analyst Raphael Sonenshein was executive director of the Los Angeles Appointed Charter Reform Commission, wrote the book on Los Angeles governance, and understands how City Hall is supposed to work. His early take on Carmen Trutanich is that the City Attorney seems sort of clueless. From a Times Op-Ed today:

Independent of the dominant forces at City Hall, he seemed to promise a breath of fresh air. But instead, he has been misusing the powers of his office....Clearly, Trutanich does not understand the job.

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The most worrisome element of Trutanich's overreach is its chilling effect on political speech at City Hall. L.A. has some unhappy history on this front. When Police Chief William H. Parker was in power from 1950 until his death in 1966, he terrified members of the city government. It took great courage to enter into public debates about the police budget or about police behavior in minority neighborhoods. Los Angeles democracy was stunted until civilian authorities reined in the runaway LAPD. If elected and appointed officials have reason to fear the city attorney, they will limit their political speech....

Prosecutorial power is an immense force, and it must be exercised with care, caution and fairness.

The professor advises Trutanich there is a way to do the steady work of being the city's lawyer and still chase headlines, he just has to be smart about it.

* Noted: Half of Doug McIntyre's Daily News column today praises Trutanich for "playing by San Pedro rules," and half criticizes him for playing by "North Korea rules" and says his fight with Controller Wendy Greuel "borders on an abuse of power."