Free Republic

Did Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the Democrats' rising political star, sell out Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides? Literally? Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's little-noticed appointment of Villaraigosa's sister to a $149,160-a-year judgeship on the Los Angeles County Superior Court has some Democratic Party loyalists accusing the mayor of a familial financial gain in what they say is his failure to aggressively support Angelides. Mary Lou Villar, 52, the mayor's younger sister, who goes by Villaraigosa's original name, was appointed to the judgeship in April. Villar, a Democrat who resides in Alhambra, is a former legal-aid attorney who had worked for the past 15...

Schwarzenegger Names Four to Los Angeles Superior CourtRiverside Jurist Nominated to Succeed Justice Ward on Fourth District Court of Appeal Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger yesterday named three local attorneys and an administrative law judge to fill vacancies on the Los Angeles Superior Court. Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board Administrative Law Judge Mary Lou Villar, civil litigators Steven D. Blades and Juan Carlos Dominguez, and former federal prosecutor Ray G. Jurado, now with the Los Angeles County Office of Independent Review, would succeed one judge who died and three who retired. The governor yesterday also nominated Riverside Superior Court Judge Douglas Miller as...