Carmen Trutanich, the L.A. city attorney, has been keeping a low profile since being drummed out of the D.A.'s race earlier this summer. Sure, he announced a big crackdown on ticket scalpers last week, but he sounded subdued about it, as though he no longer takes the same satisfaction from pummeling scofflaws.

Trutanich turned 61 over the weekend — and if there was a birthday party, our invitation got lost — which means it's time to follow up and see if he ever made good on his pledge to give $100,000 to L.A.'s Best.

Recall that Trutanich promised to donate that amount to the after-school program if he broke his pledge not to seek higher office.

Speaking to L.A. Times columnist Steve Lopez in March, Trutanich promised to come up with the money by his birthday, which was on Aug. 12:

“We're going to raise $100,000,” he said.

Wait a minute. Raise $100,000? That's pretty sneaky. I reminded him that his 2008 pledge was to write a check from “personal funds.”
“I'm not a rich guy,” Trutanich said. “I gotta raise it.”

I asked when that would be, and he said by his birthday in August, which of course would conveniently fall after the June primary.

Carla Sanger, the president and CEO of L.A.'s Best, said Tuesday that they still have not received a check from Trutanich.

But Sanger said she met recently with the city attorney, and came away convinced that he will make good on his promise, though it's not clear when. Sanger said that Trutanich put her in touch with a couple of “high-net-worth individuals in San Pedro” who may be interested in donating.

“In development, it takes time,” Sanger said. “I do have a lunch in San Pedro next Tuesday with some heavy hitters there. I don't know whether they're going to hand me a check or not. But it is something he networked to make happen.”

Once he makes good on that debt, Trutanich can turn his attention to the $112,000 he owes to John Shallman, his former campaign strategist.

Trutanich has said that he's running for re-election as city attorney in the March election, though he has yet to open a campaign committee.

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