LA Times endorses Villaraigosa in tight mayoral race

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 5/8/05 | AP - Los Angeles

[NormsRevenge]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The Los Angeles Times has endorsed City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa in the May 17 mayoral run-off, saying the candidate has a "relish and intensity" for attacking the city's woes that incumbent Mayor James Hahn lacks.

The Times also endorsed Villaraigosa in 2001, when the two candidates ran against each other in a tight race marked by attack ads that helped Hahn to a come-from-behind win.

"Villaraigosa's drive, people skills and knack for coalition-building earned our endorsement in 2001. Given Hahn's lack of dynamism, those traits seem even more desirable four ho-hum years later," reads the editorial in the paper's Sunday edition.

The paper cited allegations of "pay-to-play" fund-raising schemes within Hahn's administration in their decision, saying his "lax oversight and flawed appointments have fueled at least the perception that city contracts are for sale to the highest campaign contributor."

At the same time, the Times appplauded Villaraigosa for helping settle a 2003 transit strike and rallying the state's congressional delegation to clear funding for an Eastside light-rail line.

"Villaraigosa energizes others. He is intuitive, quick at sizing up situations and recognizing talented people with good ideas," the editorial reads.

The Los Angeles Times is the biggest newspaper in the nation's second-largest city.

[NormsRevenge]

LA Times endorses La Raza/ACLU candidate for Mayor

[goldstategop]

One or the other is a STILL a Democrat. I predict a record low turnout for this city election since there's no real choice. Between two liberals, its no contest!

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)

[kellynla]

If the Times endorses a candidate, that's a sure reason NOT to vote for them. LOL

Semper Fi,
Kelly

[avital2]

as an Angeleno, i find myself in a quandary: Mayor Hahn has been more than incompetent, but Villaraigosa is an ACLU-er endorsed by Boxer, Maxine Waters and now the L A Times. EEK!

[the Real fifi]

Worked for the governorship, didn't it? NOthing as good as a LAT endorsement..LOL

[cmsgop]

Bye L.A., It was nice knowing you.......

[Czar]

Poor old irrelevant rag in economic decline, must have been really difficult trying to decide which one of these two left wing pukes was the more politically correct choice. So of course they went for La Raza Louie...

[janetgreen]

La Raza Villagairosa, as a city councilman, was against gang injunctions, saying it was a "racist" policy. James Hahn hasn't exactly been an effective mayor, and it didn't help his popularity when he proclaimed L.A. "a Mexican city" on his first day of office.

We're not being given any decent choice in this mayoral race. Hahn knows he might be losing out to La Raza, and the race is getting dirtier and dirtier...

[AmericanInTokyo]

Just when you began to think that LA could slip no deeper into the toilet. Sad.

[Mark]

L.A. Daily News also endorsing the ACLU criminal and of course "Meat Head" Reiner following suit.

[Ramonan]

Mecha does not like him: http://oraculations.blogspot.com Tuesday, September 2 Posted 5:00 AM by Howard Get ready for a shock. This is a recommendation to read some stuff from a MEChA site I went to the site called Aztlan dot net and read many of their articles. Yes, they don't like Jews. They don't like the current Democratic Party and a ton of corrupt officials of same. They are angry at Clinton and Pardongate, and some white vigilante who shot up a town in AZ. (Link supplied by Roger L Simon in the comments section, but I drew far different conclusions from reading it than Simon does) As an actor I worked part time at the B'Nai Brith selling subs to their papers. I want to tell you that they are as corrupt as can be. The overt racism toward non-Jews, their sales pitches to non-Jews to advertise (telling them that Jews would not buy from them if they didn't advertise), and the huge commissions earned by all for a newspaper with very limited circulation was disgusting. This is not printed in the LA Times. "Aztlan dot net" exposes the disgusting salary structure at the Simon Wiesenthal Center where one family pulls down over a million dollars in "salaries" in a non-profit corporation. This should be of concern to every Jew and gentile. This is also not in the LA Times. They also cover state of California contributions to this center; keep in mind Jews are in the forefront of the separation of Church and State but have no problem taking money from same; makes you think it might be separation of Christian Church and state is all they are really interested in. Arnold Schwarzenegger contributed $750,000 to the Wiesenthal Center and then asked them to "investigate" his father. You have to be kidding. Schwarsenegger connection to Nazi party is only worth examining if you consider the "friendship" between he and Austrian Kurt Waldheim, inviting him to his wedding AFTER it became public knowledge that Waldheim was a Nazi. On that site, NOT in the LA Times. My brother in law used to work for J Walter Thompson selling advertising on a low level before hitting the big time. The section on the "Kosher Nostra" at Aztlan is not far off from what he told me about the ads for Kosher foods in New York City. They also hit some good points regarding many sell outs by people like Cisneros and the scumbag mayoral candidate for LA, Villagarosa. Yes, they are racist, meaning they select targets on a racial basis or what they feel is a policy that hurts Mexicans. They also tell a lot of truth that a hell of a lot of us don't want to deal with. No matter what our associations there is a lot of corruption; the Catholic Church being the most stunning and horrifying of recent note. The business scandals being another. I think http://aztlan.net/ should be read by a lot of us at least once. link

[CaliGangsta]

BOTH Hahn and Villaraigosa are in favor of giving drivers licenses to illegals. Both are in favor of the LAPD policy of doing nothing to stop illegals in Los Angeles. I can't bring myself to vote for either of these leftist loony tunes.

[umgud]

Just when you began to think that LA could slip no deeper into the toilet. Sad.

That may be a more profound statement than you think.

[FreedomSurge]

For four years now, I have viewed the upcoming election of Villaraigosa as the first step in the separation of Southern California from the US - a process I expect to occur over the next 25 to 30 years. We will be living in interesting times

[Carry_Okie]

Idiots. Most of Villaraigosa's constituency can't read English.

No wonder the LAT can't sell papers.

[Christian4Bush]

as an Angeleno, i find myself in a quandary: Mayor Hahn has been more than incompetent, but Villaraigosa is an ACLU-er endorsed by Boxer, Maxine Waters and now the L A Times. EEK!

All of those endorsements, plus that of John Kerry, are the reason that I will be holding my nose to vote for Mayor Hahn.

[La Enchiladita]

Since when is it a tight race? It's a recall of Hahn. Thanks, Jimmy Hahn, for giving us Tony Villa (real name -- Raigosa is wife's name).

[La Enchiladita]

You have no idea. You should be here.

[No Dems 2004]

Can anyone tell me who's the lesser of the 2 evils?

[fieldmarshaldj]

Probably Hahn, but it ain't saying much. It's like voting for the Mayor of Pyongyang... Communist #1 and Communist #2.