A note to Mayor Garcetti/Hertzberg/Caruso/Perry/Chick/LaBonge/Wesson/Nuñez/Alarcon (hah! That last one made me laugh as I wrote it) or whoever else envisions him or herself as having a chance to take the oath of office on July 1, 2013: You may want to rethink the idea of allowing other newly elected officials to approach the speaker's podium on the day you ascend to power. It certainly seems like a magnanimous gesture, but you may get more than you bargained for.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was the headliner last Wednesday as 11 Los Angeles officials formally began their first, second or even third four-year term. But new City Attorney Carmen "Nuch" Trutanich stole the show.

Incoming City Controller Wendy Greuel wasn't bad either, earning a standing ovation from her former Council colleagues, though come to think of it, they may have been applauding the fact that she made it out alive. Villaraigosa was very good at the morning event. His 31-minute address was thoughtful and laid out a clear agenda, with notable goals and even a vague allusion to his first-term shortcomings. He was better than he has been in a long time.

But Trutanich was even better. Maybe it was partly because, as a political outsider, he's still got that new car smell. Maybe it was because, as the son of a San Pedro cannery worker who made it into office as much on his own campaign as on the fact that people hated his opponent, few really know what to expect.

During introductions at the event, Nuch earned the biggest round of applause (master of ceremonies Derek Fisher - yes, the Laker, and no, I have no idea why he was the MC - got the second best response). Nuch got better from there.

Audits for Everyone
Inauguration speeches can easily descend into cheerleading emptiness, with an audience fueled by expectation and still tinged with the happy hangover of wow-our-candidate-really-won-itis.

What prevented that from occurring on the south lawn of City Hall last week was the city's financial sinkhole. Fisher of the Lakers may have been on stage, but the political establishment's handling of the crisis has been more reminiscent of the bumbling Clippers. With a $530 million budget deficit in the current fiscal year, people were desperate for good news and a fresh approach.

First up was Greuel, who it was impossible to root against because on stage with her was her 5-year-old son, Thomas. In a bow tie! There's almost nothing cuter than that, not even Lu Parker mewing the news on KTLA.

Granted, almost no one in Los Angeles knows what the City Controller does, and if they do, they wonder how Greuel could possibly do it with teeth as sharp as those of former Controller Laura Chick. But Greuel hit the right points, declaring that her first order of business will be to conduct a comprehensive financial analysis of the city, including looking at pension obligations.

"My analysis will pull no punches and will be straightforward, unvarnished and truthful," she said.

Her most popular point referenced a past fracas, when Chick tangled with ex-City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo over whether the City Charter granted her the authority to audit his worker's compensation program. Delgadillo protested like a 9-year-old being told to turn off the TV before the end of "America's Got Talent" (see, you really can put "Delgadillo" and "talent" in the same sentence), and the case went to court.

Although a judge ruled in Delgadillo's favor, Greuel did the equivalent of picking up a pitchfork.

"Let me be clear," she stated. "I believe the City Charter permits the Controller to audit any city program, even if it's in the office of an elected official."

She probably could have followed that up with "Boo-ya!" though she didn't. Wisely.

Say the Right Things
The question was, how would the new city attorney respond to Greuel's challenge? Not only did Trutanich say he was open to the audit, he essentially said come in, sit down, may I get you a cup of cocoa while you probe every penny this office has shelled out.

"I will welcome with open arms, and open doors, our new City Controller to conduct a full audit of the operations of my office," he said, earning the kind of applause AnVil got in the PM (pre-Mirthala) era. "I will hold accountable anyone in city government who violates the public trust or violates our ethics laws."

He went on to put a mark in virtually every box of the Say the Right Thing Checklist. "We will not roll over to billboard companies," he said, referencing another area where Delgadillo sparked the kind of howls usually only heard by the Hound of the Baskervilles. He pledged to battle hospitals that "dump" patients and drew clear distinctions between the "people" and the "politicians," and while every elected official ever has done the same, he sounded like he really meant it.

"I am not here to win a popularity contest," he said. "I'm here to do the people's work, and I'm here to do what is the right thing. Transparency, integrity and honesty - we cannot accept anything less. And that is the only way you can truly change this city."

He didn't even need to say "Boo-ya!"

Five Big Goals
Trutanich set the bar so high that it was virtually impossible for Villaraigosa to clear it. Still, the mayor fared well.

The now non-candidate for governor in 2010 seemed intent on getting things right.After saying he was grateful and humbled, Villaraigosa stated, "I stand, hopefully a little bit wiser as well, chastened and enlightened by our successes and failures over the last four years."

Okay, so it's not Hugh Grant apologizing for Divine Brown on "The Tonight Show," but it's probably as close as the thin-skinned Villaraigosa will get to a real mea culpa.

He went on to present an agenda with five principal points, starting with creating more jobs, an effort to be aided by spinning his Business Team into a "jobs team." That was followed by a goal both audacious and exciting, a plan to have the Department of Water and Power eliminate the use of coal by 2020, while significantly stepping up the use of other renewable energy sources.

Villaraigosa also pledged to continue public safety efforts and vastly expand mass transit construction programs. His final promise was to step up education reform, saying that he'd shut down "failing schools" and reopen them as charter or other educational institutions. Somewhere, in the distance, teacher's union head A.J. Duffy probably let out a stream of four-letter words.

In short, Villaraigosa seemed more willing than he has been to put himself on the line.

"In the next four years, we are going to judge ourselves plain and simple - based on what we build," he said.

Now he has to live up to it.