Keep Bailing

A Lifetime of Experiences that Prepare Us

People often marvel that Greg and I work together. They want to know: how do you do that? I often think we aren’t different as working business partners from any husband and wife who go to different offices and have different careers. Any family can be an excellent example of spouses working together. Take Carmen and Noreen Trutanich. . .

I met the couple at the CBAA Annual Meeting and Noreen agreed to speak with me about how their family has balanced family, careers and now Nuch’s first-time political campaign. “It’s hard work, but I don’t mind the time and effort we’re all putting into the race because he’s the perfect person for the job,” Noreen told me.

Noreen and Carmen “Nuch” Trutanich met in 1977 when they shared a four-mile run on Redondo Beach. After three decades years of marriage, the couple knows what working together means. They’ve spent decades building a successful marriage, close family relationships while juggling business and career.

Even though Noreen recently retired after 30 years as a flight attendant, she has enthusiastically taken on a new project – supporting Nuch in his first run for political office. Carmen Trutanich is running for the non-partisan position of Los Angeles City Attorney. It’s a high-profile local race for a position that covers a wide geographic area.

Even the day they met, she said, Nuch showed the creative problem solving skills and determination that will make him a great city attorney.

“He and a group of buddies were at the beach training to run a marathon. This joking group of guys said they were running with me. I didn’t even have on real running shoes, but I was immediately struck by Nuch and managed to run four miles that morning! Nuch did all the talking; I couldn’t.

“Once I got my breath back, I gave him my phone number. He didn’t have anything to write with, so he gave each buddy one number from my phone number to remember. But there was a problem: they couldn’t remember the right order. Determined, Nuch tried bunch of different combinations before he finally got me.”

At that time, Noreen had already been working as a flight attendant for about five years. Nuch was finishing law school. Their busy schedules made it hard to schedule time together, but they worked it out, marrying just a few months later. “That’s always been our life; doing a million things at once, but always staying close and working together.”

Both Noreen and Nuch sacrificed sleep and time together to give their four children a well-grounded family life. Noreen worked weekends and would start her “workweek” on Friday night and be finished by Sunday whenever possible. Even though she mostly had evening flights, she managed to attend the kids’ daytime games and parties and school activities. Nuch was just as involved with the family: overseeing homework, coaching soccer, and anything else that needed doing.

Noreen said that she realized at the time (and continues to appreciate) just how lucky she was. She and Nuch shared the housekeeping and childrearing tasks that many men didn’t really get involved with 20+ years ago.

“I’m so proud of my husband! He’s such a great dad and family man. In many ways, the job schedule I had was a blessing. Our kids grew up as close to him as to me. Nuch would be up with them at night and change their diapers. When they got older, he coached their teams. In our house, there were no ‘Mom jobs’ or ‘Dad jobs.’ We were parents and we worked as a team.”

A Southern California native, Noreen marvels at how much of the Los Angeles area she had never spent time in before the campaign. That team spirit shows now in how the family is working together on Trutanich’s campaign. Noreen said that her new role is “not something I would have chosen” because she’s never sought the limelight that politics brings. That doesn’t stop her or the kids from helping with the campaign.

In her “free time,” Noreen has gathered signatures to get Nuch on the ballot. “I don’t like approaching strangers and quizzing them [about where they live and vote], but I have to make sure they qualify to sign.” Still, the job hasn’t been as disagreeable as Noreen feared it may be. Once people find out that she’s collecting signatures for her husband’s campaign and she has a chance to tell them a bit about him, most are happy to sign.

Her other campaign role is easier:

“What else am I doing? I’m supporting Nuch! With his busy schedule, my role as wife and mother is very important. There’s no way I can keep up with him, but keeping the family in touch and being here for anything he needs is what I can do. Many mornings, he’s out of the house at 5 am and doesn’t get home until late at night. Between his law office, court, and campaigning, he lives in the car right now.”

Trutanich was asked to run for the City Attorney office by Steve Cooley, Los Angeles District Attorney. According to Noreen, Cooley told Nuch, “Los Angeles needs a champion and I choose you.” Those are passionate words from someone as well respected as Cooley. Noreen says the sacrifices that she and Nuch are making for the campaign are easy because, she says, it’s so important for Nuch to win.

“He’s so passionate and right for the job. Everyone who hears him speak knows that he’s in the race for all the right reasons. He’s doing it because he knows he can make a difference.”

Having worked in the district attorney’s office and dealt with criminal law, Trutanich understands the bail bond system and appreciates the role the bail industry plays in the criminal justice system. He discussed his experience and plans for the City Attorney’s office recently at the California Bail Agents Association Annual Convention. Trutanich knows the importance of the bail system and supports bail as an important method of cost saving for Los Angeles as well as the best way to keep the public and jails safe.

Noreen though, had only vague knowledge of bail bonds prior to the campaign. She noted that many attorneys also aren’t familiar with bail. Unless an attorney practices criminal law, it’s rare to have a client who needs to be bailed out. “But Nuch is different,” she said. “He’s always been curious and eager to learn new things. He’s taken the time to educate himself, and that’s why he knows that bail is a necessary part of the system.”

Noreen frankly admitted that she can’t wait for the campaign to be over, but she knows the sacrifice of family and personal time is worth it. “I just know Nuch is going to win,” she said, “because he’s perfect for the job.” Noreen told me it’s like their whole lives together have been preparing them for this time.