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.
Bienvenidos a Aztlan. No olvide pagar la mordida.
I am not loyal to any other nation but to the great USA. For you the USA should be a white supremacist nation and to your great chagrin this will never happen.
You will not be allowed to hijack FR and turn it into a National Alliance or Storm Front forum.
Didn't take the enemy long to surface...lol
Villaraigosa's election is the start of the break up of the United States. Over the next 20 years Southern California will become an independent district, receiveing only welfare payments from the US.
I predict that Villaraigosa will run against, and beat Arnold for governor. Then the complete destruction of Cali will begin.
He's from east LA. Maybe he grew up with Cheech and Chong.
Isn't that "Lord Humongous", "the ayatollah of rock and rolla"?
"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."
Then his open reply to me, after I said I would not exchange freepmails with him and posted his slanders in the open. Here, he is again calling me a Nazi and a racist:
For you the USA should be a white supremacist nation and to your great chagrin this will never happen.
You will not be allowed to hijack FR and turn it into a National Alliance or Storm Front forum.
Is it permissible on Free Republic to make these kind of slanderous charges?
I agree. Hahn though, was so insipid it made me barf..
Here they go again. When they can't defend their open borders position, they call you a Nazi racist.
The two countries are merging. The presidents of both countries want it. The media wants it. Big Business wants it. Hollywood wants it (they don't want to pay someone $10/hour to clean their pool and watch their kids).
And nobody cares about the opinion of the people who don't want it. Heck, the candidate championed by almost every "conservative" in the country is one of the biggest proponents of illegal alien amnesty. And the next "conservative" candidate will be for open borders too, and you know what? You'll vote for him. Because you will, once again, vote for "the lessor of two evils".
So what do you want? You vote in pro-illegal guys, you get more illegal aliens. Then you complain for 4 years, at which point you simply complain again.
And everyone pretends to act stunned.
The countries have merged. It's been done. The issue is pretty much dead now. It's done. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube. Lean spanish, pull the "Republican" lever regardless of anyone's position, and get on with life already. The hand-wringing over this is just a waste of time. Nobody is gong to do anything.
He/she is like most of the rest.
They have their own agenda and bias and try to project on the rest of us meanwhile, they celebrate the Reconquista of the Southwest and the overruning of America by the third world.
Either that or they're very ignorant and naive and must have never been anywhere. The old all culture is relative platitudes.
Didn't jveritas already confirm that he is not a US citizen and lives outside the US, most likely in Mexico City?
Read this and be proud:
"a city that is 48 percent Hispanic, 31 percent white, 11 percent Asian and 10 percent black"
This is what makes America a great country, you can bash immigrants or minorities but I like a nice blend over a vintage any day.
So what's gonna change? Its already Mexico.
Thanks Stu.
You made my day.
Antonio, born Tony Villar, is the former Vice President of the Southern California ACLU. At UCLA, he was leader of MECha, a racist organization, one of the La Raza groups like the Nation of Aztlan & La Voz de Aztlan. Antonio Villaraigosa lead a protest to include the Communist organization "Committee to Free Los Tres" on the Steering Committee of the Chicano Studies Center at UCLA. He's advocated amnesty and free education (including college) for illegals. As leader of the state Assembly, he praised Mexican President Zedillo in defeating Proposition 187 here in CA. At those facts just scratch the surface... the problem with the Latino majority of L.A. and their hero Villaraigosa is that they don't see themselves as Americans but as Mexicans re-occupying California for their homeland.
Lots of false flag freepers don't share that goal.
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