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.
The new mayor is a long time member of MEHhA, which is an "Aztlan" group. The name means "fuse" in Spanish, their symbol is a war eagle clutching a burning bundle of dynamite, ready to be dropped on....
That is the problem.
.
BLACK APRIL =
The Fall of Saigon-1975
BLACK MAY =
The Fall of Los Angeles-2005
.
That was a very low turnout, wasn't it? I would think that the Chicago dead could have beat those numbers.
I don't understand. Should Hispanic Americans not be allowed to be mayors?
CITY OF LOS ANGELES
NUMBER REGISTERED BALLOTS --- 1,469,296
CAST --- 448,857
PERCENT REPORTING --- 30.55
It is not a racial issue, it is a position issue. Villeraigosa is about as far left as Fidel, he just hides it a bit better in order to win.
Exchanging one proven crook for a potential crook.
Since both are sleazy Democrats, I don't see the point of siding with either one.
One more nail into the coffin of Kalifornistan.
One thing that the extreme left has learned over the years is they cannot be elected if they let their true colors show. That is why they 'talk' to the middle, and wink to the left.
The left knows this and goes along, the middle is lulled into complacency and the right is then portrayed as extreme.
It has been going on for years.
LA a lost cause? Not for Mexico. Look for really open borders now in CA as LA becomes much more of an "amnesty city" where all illegals can congregate and make Aztlan happen on a major scale. Adios to my home town. It was once a great place to live. Now it has been trashed by illegals from most anywhere.
Whites are fleeing in droves. In 20 years there will be none remaining in LA.
That will be the entire Southwest including Texas and Colorado in 50 years.
But evil whites who brought evil civilization to most of the world are expected to go quietly and fall on their collective swords so as not to risk being called racist by the NuevoAztecas.
Texas will be there way before 50 years, we are almost there already.
Janice Hahn in 2009?
down to 31%?
31% was the hispanic percentage in the 2000 census for Texas but with illegals streaming in by the minute, I would guess that figure is way way off.
Hispanics will surpass Anglos in Texas sometime tween now and 2030 according to this
http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:BDrMLwLSmlQJ:www.county.org/resources/countydata/products/TX_Demo/TX_Demographics_Jun2001.pdf+texas+demographics&hl=en
"Travis you are the leader of the RACIST guys here on FR. You will be exposed one day right here on FR and everyone will know how deep you are involved with the white supremacist movement."
You have something to say to me, say it right here, in the open. I prefer not to have private discussions with false flag freepers, who are secretly loyal to other nations.
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