Allan Jackson for District Attorney

No, not THAT Alan Jackson.

The race to be Los Angeles County's District Attorney has been an interesting and wild one for sure. Writing at CityWatch, our friend Joseph Mailander accurately calls this race - with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in no need of California's primary delegates - probably the key race drawing Los Angeles County voters to the polls next Tuesday.



The retirement of longtime DA Steve Cooley as the county's top cop set up a multi-way race between a number of veteran Deputy District Attorneys - and controversial Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich (who vowed in 2009 he would not run for the seat).

Carmen the Clown

The race has attracted several well qualified members of the DA's office out to run, each of whom brings a distinguished record and support from different quarters, and all of whom have seemingly united behind a theme of "Anybody But Carmen," a meme for sure now echoed by our local dinosaur media.

Detractors have made clear - including Trutanich's antagonist-in-chief, Deputy District Attorney David Berger, that Carmen Trutanich is a really bad guy. From his broken pledge to not seek higher office to his intimidation of City Council members to alleged reports that he fabricated a story of being attacked by gang members during his years ago service as a Deputy DA, Trutanich has proven himself to probably be one of the most morally unfit politicians in Los Angeles since Mike Hernandez or Richard Alatorre.

Carmen's Former Employer

During the campaign, Trutanich has displayed a series of ethical lapses ranging from paying for views of his YouTube campaign videos to listing law enforcement groups as endorsers when they actually had not issued such support and running afoul of a local judge who declared Trutanich's chosen ballot designation was a lie.

And ironically - Trutanich's legendary bullying of members of the City Council has been effective enough to garner their endorsements as well as that of the Mayor and Governor Jerry Brown. One could  surmise these gaggle of cowardly chickens might be afraid to cross Carmen the Clown, or, perhaps, they wish to escalate the Carmen problem to the County and grease the skids for Council Member Paul Krekorian to grab the City Attorney's chair (and by domino fall set up Krekorian's boyish, North Hollywood based charges-de-affaires Damian Carroll to assume the 2nd District Council seat).

Or perhaps - with pending criminal charges against Council Member Richard Alarcon - and the other candidates all promising to beef up the District Attorney's public corruption division (which will need to be once the stuff Zuma Dogg has been saying for years hits the fan, more of the LAUSD's molestation scandals surface and other pending investigations into various local elected officials continue to percolate to the surface), maybe the Mayor and Council figure Trutanich is their guy to make all this go away.

If this is the crowd Carmen - who just a few short years ago was the dreaded opponent of the establishment's dear Jack Weiss - is reduced to hang out with, has he not become damaged goods?

Jackie Lacey

There are however, certainly a good number of alternatives to the Serbian former tuna packer.

Jackie Lacey is a quarter century long serving member of the DA's office with a track record of prosecuting violent crimes and for establishing innovative programs within the office. Lacey, endorsed by outgoing Cooley, if elected, would be the first woman and the first African-American to serve in the position.

Bobby Grace

Another major contender for the spot is Bobby Grace. Like Lacey, Grace traces his service in the office back to the late 80s and is also African-American. Grace is most famous for his prosecution of Snoop Dogg in an alleged 1996 case of a drive-by shooting. A Bruin with a long track record of work in local Democratic party politics, Grace recently successfully prosecuted illegal immigrant Pedro Espinoza in the tragic killing of teenager Jamiel Shaw, II. We recently interviewed Grace (as well as Shaw's father, Jamiel, Sr.) on LiveLASaturdayNight.

Other candidates in the race include Deputy DAs John Breault and Danette Myers.

While either Lacey or Grace would make fine DAs and far and away are absolutely far better choices to Trutanich, I am supporting Deputy District Attorney Allan Jackson to succeed Cooley.

Allan Jackson

Jackson is the youngest of the candidates - at 46 - and one of three Republicans. He's served nearly two decades in the office heading up many prominent local cases. He's responsible for convicting the murderer of auto racing legend Mickey Thompson and his wife Trudy. The murder - which happened in the late 80s when Jackson was still an undergrad at UT Austin - festered in the DA's office for 18 years until Jackson took over and secured the prosecution of Michael Goodwin, putting him away for life. Jackson is most famous however for his prosecution of rock icon, producer Phil Spector, in the death of Lana Clarkson.

A military veteran, Jackson brings both a hard boiled anti-gang/anti-crime track record to the position but one who also understands how to fight crime in a technological age. Jackson has served as an advisor to NBC News on programs such as Dateline NBC's Unsolved Case Squad.

When it comes to the District Attorney's race - one thing is solidly clear - Anybody But Carmen. But when it comes to the top choice to stand up for the residents of Los Angeles and victims of violent crime, that choice is Alan Jackson.