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On May 2, 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported that Villaraigosa was under investigation for ethics violations. “The executive director of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission...accused Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of 31 violations of campaign finance and disclosure laws stemming from his 2003 campaign for the City Council.”[64]

In June 2010, a formal ethics investigation of Villariagosa was launched, due to his unreported acceptance of 81 tickets to concerts, awards ceremonies and sporting events.[65] Estimates - including the 13 Lakers courtside tickets valued at $3,100 each[66] and Academy Awards and Governor’s Ball tickets at $21,000 each—suggest that the value of the tickets could amount to tens of thousands of dollars.[67] The unreported tickets came to light after the City of Los Angeles paid $3.2 million for Michael Jackson’s Memorial, including $2 million in police overtime.

After his election as Mayor, Villaraigosa was featured on the cover of Newsweek, and in Time ‘s story on the country’s 25 most influential Latinos, but repeated questions concerning his marital infidelity issues appear to have damaged his reputation locally and nationally.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa topped a list of all-time worst Angelenos chosen by online voters who responded to the Talk Back to Lopez poll at the Los Angeles Times.[68]

Villaraigosa has also received criticism because of his membership in MEChA while attending UCLA and his alleged support for immigration reform.[69][70] He has also been criticized because of the high frequency in which he holds press conferences, attends photo-ops, and travels out-of-town (including campaigning for Hillary Clinton). An LA Weekly article by Patrick Range McDonald published on September 11, 2008, presented an analysis of a 10-week period from May 21 to August 1, and determined that “On direct city business—such as signing legislation and meeting with city-department heads—his schedule shows the mayor spent 11 percent of his time...Yet the 11 percent of Villaraigosa’s time that the Weekly has identified as being spent in L.A. on actual city work—running, fixing or shaping government policies and actions—reveals that he frequently spends that limited time huddling with special-interest groups who have helped him attain higher office.”[71]

A November 4, 2008 election day poll conducted by the Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University found that Villaraigosa had a job approval rating of 61%.[72][73] In 2009, a poll by the Los Angeles times showed his approval rating had slipped to 55%, “relatively low for a sitting mayor who faced little name opposition in his recent re-election victory.”[74] At the same time, his showing and that of the candidates he supported in the election were lackluster.