Villaraigosa Takes L.A.

Antonio Villaraigosa pummeled L.A.’s incumbent Mayor Jimmy Hahn out of office Tuesday night by what appears to be a rather spectacular 17 or 18 point margin.

The landslide election of a Spanish-speaking liberal Latino to preside over America’s second largest city carries huge political symbolism especially at a time when the national immigration debate is simmering. And before Villaraigosa even takes over his new office, it makes him an instant player in the future battle for Arnold’s state house

Let’s hope that Antonio Villaraigosa’s election night victory party – the biggest anyone can remember with 5,000 or more celebrating in the downtown streets—is, at last, the beginning of his real campaign.

I voted for Tony and wish him well. And as I said before, I really wanted to squeeze sleazeball Hahn out of office. But having to suffer through the disillusioning, depressing, and disgusting excuse for a campaign we’ve just been through was a very high price to pay for watching Hahn get hosed away.

A last-minute surge of activist, motivated Villaraigosa voters drove the turnout a notch or two higher than the expected 30%. But make no mistake, millions of Angelenos long ago tuned out from this mud match and didn’t even notice election day. Who can blame them?

Now that the votes are counted and a new Mayor has been elected, maybe now some authentic enthusiasm and energy can be generated. For if this mayoral contest had lasted a few weeks more, literally nobody would have been left to give a damn either way.

Not that Hahn and Villaraigosa share equal responsibility for the purse-swinging mutual demolition match we have had to watch for the last couple of months. Hahn lived right down to our worst sewer-level expectations; on election day sending out an email blast that asked voters to refrain from electing a candidate from the ACLU.

Villaraigosa had no alternative except to push back shove-per-shove. Unfortunately he offered little else except some future, expanded Red Line subway that would “run to the sea” (over the dead body, of course, of his political ally Congressman Henry Waxman). Maybe this was a calculated rope-a-dope strategy, a wise political gambit to capture the center. Or maybe Tony just couldn’t quite find his footing as he struggled to reposition himself this second time around. Whatever the reason, Villaraigosa offered more the promise of re-invigorated leadership than a palpable example of such.

His victory Tuesday night was, nevertheless, an admirable and clear win for which he deserves full credit. But it would be a little self-deluding to claim that some overwhelming mandate has been achieved. None of The Above still beat out Villaraigosa and Hahn by a 2-to1 margin.

Nor did the city’s self-styled progressive coalition fare very well. Until the bitter end, the public employees union and the County Federation of Labor (the supposed motor of that coalition) were out there garishly whoring for a sinking Jimmy Hahn, effectively endorsing his desperate last minute smears. I’m not at all convinced by all the predictions that once the dust settles Tony and the unions will patch it all up and move on. Villaraigosa, like any smart politician, is going to remember who stood with him and who stood with Hahn. Nor can it be lost on Tony that this is two mayoral elections in a row the Fed has lost so, it could be, like, “get in line with everyone else my union brothers.”

Antonio, meanwhile, swept an unexpected 2/3 of the cantankerous and cranky San Fernando Valley vote, a vote that was more alienated from Hahn (for all the wrong reasons by the way) than it was enamored of his rival. We saw with what breathtaking speed Hahn’s African-American support evaporated after his 2001 election. And much of that vote strayed, again, for less than noble reasons. Fault Hahn all you like (something I love to do) but recognize that his two greatest accomplishments – firing LAPD Chief Bernie Parks and defeating valley secession—are what cost him his two key constituencies. Let that be a warning to Villaraigosa to how fickle his own electoral coalition might be.

Villaraigosa played it safe and sober and the voters chose him mostly because they wanted some change, any change, from the uninspired course set by Hahn. Villaraigosa starts his tenure, then, with the bar set very high. If he should show any flagging whatsoever, he could face an implosion of support.

When Tony V takes over his new office, he’ll have to bring in a couple of cartons worth of Glade to clear out the stench at City Hall. He’s also going to have draw deeply on all his political skills if he wants to maintain the attention of those who voted for him and get at least the notice of those who have been left numb and cold by the sordid spectacle of the last few months.

Photo: Wally Skalij, L.A. Times

Comments

[rosedog]

Si se puede!

[Rich]

Well, this should have happened 4 years ago, but better late than never. And Marc, your point about Hahn losing critical support from African-Americans and SF Valley voters for the wrong reasons (firing Parks and defeating secession attempts, respectively) is a keen observation--ironic and disconcerting that the couple of times Hahn actually made the right move hurt him perhaps more than his pay-to-play scandal and slimeball campaigning. And to top it off, we have this bizarre labor situation that you've referred to more than once: how labor leaders managed to miscalculate this so badly just boggles the mind. Really, how hard would it have been to lie low? After all, it's not like an anti-labor candidate was running for mayor. Here's hoping that Antonio can return to what I perceived in 2001 to be an exciting and hopeful relationship with the rank-and-file, and have that be realized in some real economic gains for the lower/lower-middle class here in L.A.

[Mark A. York]

I voted for him, but I'm still not very excited about it. It may be because I live here and have to leave the state to find work. To me it's a big town of rejection that no number of degrees seems to cure. I doubt anything or anyone including me can change that.

[Woody]

rosedog, I'm embarrassed that I have to go to the dictionary when I read a lot of your comments.

After I found the translation and meaning of your quote, I also determined that there is also a union song by that name. http://tinyurl.com/7783f I hope the tune and singing is as good as the "Look for the Union Label" song that was a popular television commercial a long time ago. http://tinyurl.com/9qvzk

Oh yes, for everyone as unsophisticated as myself, "Si se puede!" is interpreted as "Yes, it can be done!" (or, "yes, you can" or "yes, I can."

I think its Spanish.

[Marc Cooper]

Woody.. u got it right. The connotation would be more colloquial, like "damn right we can do it." It's a traditional slogan from the United Farm Workers Union.

"It's a traditional slogan from the United Farm Workers Union."

Oh...I thought you were referring to the Spanish edition Sammy Davis Jr.'s autobiography.

Incidentally, as an outsider with only an occasional brush with L.A., I've often wondered why it wouldn't be a better idea to break it up into smaller municipalities. I guess because the tax bases would get totally stratified in the process, but it seems like an ungovernable aggregation from afar. Oakland isn't as prosperous as SF, but it's hard to imagine any of our problems getting solved if we were all part of some greater Bay Area glob.

[reg]

sorry...that was me

[rosedog]

Not to worry, Woody. I don’t speak Spanish, which is an appalling admission given that I live in LA and work regularly in Spanish-speaking communities. (I can understand it somewhat, but only if it’s spoken very slowly by a not-very-bright three year old with a limited vocabulary. I used to speak French, but have lost most of that over the years.) I do, however, speak and understand a fair amount of Span-glish....and am a maniacally enthusiastic student of vernacular of all kinds.

Hence, "Si se puede," which---because of its traditional association with the VFW, as Marc noted above---has by now pretty much achieved iconic status by now. It was chanted at Miguel Contreras’ funeral, for example, and was used along the campaign trail by a lot of Villaraigosa’s supporters. Last night when Antonio made his victory speech, the audience got into chanting it.

That's all I know (and it ain't much).

(I'm impressed you looked it up!)

[rosedog]

Reg....make sure you keep that line for your stand up routine.

[reg]

Okay...my attribution of the slogan to Sammy was a silly joke.

But not nearly as funny as your line about it's "traditional association with the VFW".

I know..."mistakes were made".

[reg]

Okay...my attribution of the slogan to Sammy was a silly joke.

But not nearly as funny as your line about it's "traditional association with the VFW".

I know..."mistakes were made".

[reg]

oooops....double post...mistakes were made.

[reg]

oooops....double post...mistakes were made.

[reg]

p-p-p-pardon my stutter. signal to get back to work...

[rosedog]

"traditional association with the VFW"...

Oh, great.

Worse, I didn't catch until I read your post. That's what I get for multi-tasking at middle age (which this morning evidently includes breathing while typing). I'm genuinely sad for myself.

At least, “Si se puede”...was the result of a large glass of wine, the 2 am hour, and my utter inability to think of anything more coherent to say. I don't have any plausible excuse for this morning's dyslexic, typo-fraught rambling.

Time for more coffee. LOTS more coffee.

[Richard Bennett]

Antonio doesn't actually speak Spanish, Marc. You should correct your post. When in the legislature he was among the crowd of Hispanics taking remedial Spanish classes in order to create the illusion of Spanish fluency, but it's probably fair to say that George W. Bush is more a Spanish-speaker than Antonio. His surname isn't Hispanic either as he made it up.

Nonetheless, the election of this puppet (formerly the most clueless Assembly speaker of all time) is a great step forward for third generation immigrants from countries generally to the south of San Diego. Or something.

[rosedog]

"Antonio doesn't actually speak Spanish, Marc...."

"His surname isn't Hispanic either as he made it up."

Oh, horsesh*t. I've seen him give 20 minute speeches to Spanish-speaking audiences, multiple times....but it's not fluent, rather it's LA *pocho* Spanish, which he freely---and rather self-effacingly---admits.

In terms of his name, he was born Antonio Villar. Villaraigosa is a combination of his name and his wife's maiden name, Raigosa.

If you're going to criticize Villaraigosa, try finding something a bit more....you know....fact-based.

[Richard Bennett]

So you admit that his name is made-up, that's a good first step Mr. or Ms. Puppydog.

Lots of people can read Spanish, but that doesn't mean they can actually speak it. If Cooper had called Antonio a "Spanish-reading mayor" I would have no problem with the post at all.

My fact remains, however, that President Bush speaks better Spanish than Antonio, so Marc should be happy that we have our first Spanish-speaking president and acknowledge his role in helping elect Spanish-readers across the country.

[Marc Davidson]

Richard Bennett --
What an uncivil posting!
What's your point?

[reg]

It's a good thing Bush has mastered Spanish better than this Villa-whatever guy. Every politician should be fluent in at least one language and Spanish is a good start...

[reg]

It's a good thing Bush has mastered Spanish better than this Villa-whatever guy. Every politician should be fluent in at least one language and Spanish is a good start...

[Richard Bennett]

What's uncivil about my post, dimwit? Antonio is a puppet and a moron and anybody who's ever talked to him for more than three seconds knows it. Are we supposed to be excited that LA now has a latino puppet for a mayor instead of an anglo crook?

I don't see this as progress, pardon me, it's just PC racism.

[reg]

Richard Bennett is a fucking genius. And a sweet, sweet guy. He currently has a post up that makes a point that frankly floored me and is forcing me to consider jumping the liberal ship. Here it is in a nutshell. LIBERAL WOMEN ARE UGLY! CONSERVATIVE WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL! Yeah, that's it. And it's beautifully illustrated. Janet Reno vs. Ann Coulter, Hillary Clinton vs. Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Barbra Streisand vs. Midge Decter, Susan Sarandon vs. Brittany Spears, etc. etc. Floored me. Just floored me. Original. Deep. Irrefutable. Lay off this guy. He's smart as a whip and has a beautiful ass.

[Jim Rockford]

Marc -- the Unions supported Hahn because Villaraigosa brings spoils machine politics into City Hall. If you're not on his political machine you will suffer, likely be gone. They could have split the difference, that they did not do so should tell you something. They're not dumb. They figured Villaraigosa would win. They also know that he's Tammany Hall 2.0 and they will lose no matter what if he wins. He has a lot of patronage positions to fill which means firing civil servants and private companies that have ties to him filling in the spots. Even I can see that.

I wonder when Tony will start privatizing City Hall to bring in his cronies?

The big issue I see is crime. I can't see Antonio Villaraigosa breaking his fragile Westside ACLU led / East side Ethnic Machine politics coalition by taking the unpopular steps to control crime. Hahn at least knew he'd pay a price to get rid of Parks and did it anyway. Villaraigosa's coalition wants two irreconcilable goals: control crime without offending anyone. I predict that V's goal will be political first with Parks possibly re-appointed (why not, Villaraigosa owes him and it would get him support in South Central) when Bratton bails as he's going to; and a rapid collapse of the LAPD with officers streaming for other agencies that pay better and don't have Parks and Villaraigosa. Meanwhile we'll have officers essentially not responding to a lot of crime because of fallout with any use of force, deadly or otherwise. This happened in NYC after the Diallo and other cases. That's human nature. Certainly neither Parks nor Bratton nor Villaraigosa inspire any confidence that they won't throw officers to the wolves in any use of force situation.

Karen Toshima? Something like that will happen, jeopardizing the SERIOUS money that Broad and others put into Staples, Downtown, the Westside. The Valley will secede, sick of the crime creeping over the pass, and the new power brokers (big time developers) will dump Antonio but hard. But not before LA slides into Detroit level incompetence on the basic delivery of government services through one party machine politics and neglect of even basic public safety.

What's notable in this election is the complete absence of the business community, which should say something in it's own right: they found both candidates loathesome.

[rosedog]

Bennett, you dimwit, "Villar" IS a Hispanic surname. (NOTE: Judging from your above use of the salutation "dimwit," I assume that you meant to employ the appellation as a term of endearment, thus I’m doing my best to respond affectionately in kind.)

To give credit where credit is due, Richard Bennett does seem to have come up with a damned good chili recipe.

http://www.bennett.com/chili.html

(Hey, man, everybody's beautiful in their own way!)