Posted on 05/18/2005 1:04:53 AM PDT by RWR8189
LOS ANGELES - Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa unseated Mayor James Hahn on Tuesday to become the city's first Hispanic mayor in more than a century, confirming the rising political power of Latinos in the nation's second-largest city.
After a lackluster term tainted by corruption allegations at City Hall, Hahn was turned out of office in favor of a high school dropout and son of the barrio who turned his life around to become speaker of the California Assembly and then a member of the Los Angeles City Council.
With 70 percent of precincts reporting, Villaraigosa had 202,861 votes, or 59 percent, to 140,416 votes for Hahn, or 41 percent.
"You all know I love L.A., but tonight I really love L.A.," an exuberant Villaraigosa told supporters.
Villaraigosa will become the first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles since 1872, back when the city was merely a dusty outpost of only about 5,000 residents on the edge of the Western frontier. Hahn, the scion of a prominent political family, becomes the first Los Angeles mayor in 32 years to be bounced from office.
Villaraigosa, 52, positioned himself as a unity candidate who would bridge racial and ethnic groups in a city that is 48 percent Hispanic, 31 percent white, 11 percent Asian and 10 percent black. The Democrat lined up marquee endorsements from John Kerry to basketball legend Magic Johnson.
The bruising runoff between the two Democrats was a rematch of the 2001 election, in which Hahn rallied to defeat Villaraigosa and win his first term. But Villaraigosa came back strong this year, nearly ousting Hahn in the March primary.
Elsewhere, Pittsburgh held a primary for mayor with the city mired in worst financial crisis since the collapse of the steel industry during the 1980s. And voters in Dover, Pa., picked their candidates for the school board in a community that has been roiled by a new and apparently first-in-the-nation policy requiring that students learn about the "intelligent design" theory of creation.
Hahn's family has been active in Los Angeles politics for decades; his father, Kenneth, was a beloved county supervisor. He touted Los Angeles' dropping crime and argued that he is the man to cure such urban ills such as failing schools and gridlock.
But the coalition of blacks and moderate-to-conservative San Fernando Valley voters that put him in office four years ago broke apart this time. He lost black support because he backed the ouster of Police Chief Bernard Parks, who is black, and suffered fallout from allegations that his administration exchanged city contracts for campaign donations.
And Hahn's lawyerly some say drab image left him open to criticism that he isn't up to being the public face of star-studded L.A.
"People want substance rather than style. I think they want results rather than rhetoric," Hahn, 54, said after voting early Tuesday. "You know, maybe I have a charisma deficit disorder, but I've done the job people have elected me to do."
Villaraigosa, who once wore a "Born to Raise Hell" tattoo before turning his life around, promised to bring a fresh start to the city.
"I will never forget where I came from. And I will always believe in the people of Los Angeles," he said Tuesday night.
In other races Tuesday:
_ Former City Councilman Bob O'Connor beat a crowded field of Democrats in the Pittsburgh mayoral primary. O'Connor will be heavily favored to win in November because Pittsburgh is predominantly Democratic. Mayor Tom Murphy is not seeking a fourth term.
_ In Dover, Pa., a party-line split emerged in a school board primary that has made national headlines because of the board's October decision to require that ninth-grade students be told about "intelligent design" when they learn about evolution in biology class. Republicans picked seven incumbent school board members who support the policy, while Democrats favored a slate of seven challengers who say intelligent design doesn't belong in science class. Intelligent design holds that the universe is so complex, it must have been created by some kind of guiding force.
_ Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham, once called "America's Deadliest D.A." for her pursuit of the death penalty, took a big step toward winning a full fourth term by cruising to victory in the Democratic primary. The 64-year-old prosecutor defeated a 38-year-old lawyer who accused Abraham of being soft on City Hall corruption.
_ In Erie, Pa., Mayor Rick Filippi, who is under indictment on charges of using insider information to try to profit from real estate deals, lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary. The primary came a day before he faced a preliminary hearing in the corruption case.
You are right, I have been living in San Francisco too long. I am going to start fighting the good fight, white is right!
I fairly certain Vietnamese do. I know they used to during the Cold War.
As for the borders, Two months ago, just caught a Caucasian terrorist (Hezbollah - Lebanese) in Detroit who came through Nogales.
Welcome to Los Angeles, Mexico!
No he's not. Moderate at best.
I think you mean Villar....his name before he changed it.
"Are land"? Is that graphic for real? Or is this just the work of a very subtle sense of humor?
Quit being a jackass. People have been banned from FR for comments like that.
If Americanos don't want Spanish-speaking people coming to the USA, why do you name so many of your states, counties, cities, towns, villages and streets with Spanish names?
You have a NEW Mexico state but there is no NEW USA state in Mexico.
Texas, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, California, Florida and NEW Mexico are all Spanish placenames. As are Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, El Paso, San Angelo...on and on I could go.
See? ALL Americans speak a little Spanish! ;)
Instead of that, how about ... "Abiding by Federal Immigration Laws is right"?
Just a suggestion.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Is it "the paler the skin the better" or what?
Are Albino's the perfect specimens for "white sepremacists"?
With all the talk about these folks, you would think there was a "white sepremacist" lurking behind every tree. I've never met one, but I have met lots of black and latino "sepremacists".
And given that 88% of black men are killed by other black men, "white sepremacists" should be the last group that minorities, or anyone, are worried about.
There don't seem to be that many of them.
You're damned right you've been living in San Francisco too long-- you're sounding like one them: "Whites are always wrong! Viva multiculturalism! Down with America!"
Let me explain it to you in very simple terms:
Mexicans are no longer immigrants, they are colonists..
They don't want to become Americans, they want to transform the Southwest United States into Mexico.
It's ironic, because they're transforming their new home into the same kind of sh!thole they escaped from. Slash and burn.
Actually, in those states, there are tons of places with Indian (the native american kind) names too.
Whatever happened to those guys? They ain't been bitching lately.
I lived in Miami when they elected a Cuban mayor. There was no big political change that took place and there won't be any in Los Angeles. You now just have to bribe a new set of office holders. The same rule is in effect.......whoever's in, get's the money......
Extreme sarcasm.
Wait until they start calling for bombing Mexico with nuclear weapons.
"Hispanic" IS white. Spaniards are Europeans, too, ya know. "Hispanic" is more of an ethnic identity than it is a racial one.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.