[Previous entry: "Baca In Deep Caca ..."] [Next entry: "Return Of The Two-Headed Monster"]

06/13/2007: "He Makes A Good Point, Tony ..."

It nearly got lost in the Paris Hilton hoopla, but Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa had a quick press conference last week to announce that he was separating from his wife of 20 years; she and the family will remain in the Mayor's residence while Villaraigosa returns to their private home.

Beyond the spin control elements of the presser, the mayor wanted to make it clear that he felt this was a private matter, that he would not be discussing the reasons for the split, and that this would be his only public comments on the matter. Of course, that hasn't stopped his office from agressively disputing anyone who claims an extramarital affair might be the cause, even as he refuses to say what really did result in the breakup.

If this was you or me, I'd agree it should be hands-off. But this is the mayor of the second largest city in America - a very powerful individual who can make or break people and projects, and whose constituents have a right to know if he's being unduly influenced.

It's probably put best by David Zahsner over at LA Weekly ...

Here’s why it matters: Four months ago, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced that he had had his own affair. On its face, the notion of a side romance by a San Francisco mayor might seem like tame stuff. But Californians suddenly had a very different perspective on San Francisco’s mayor once they learned that Newsom had been seeing the wife of a longtime friend. In short, they got a fuller understanding of the man who represents them.

Villaraigosa’s only publicly known affair, spelled out in new detail in a recent New Yorker profile, described how, on the morning after his victory in a spring primary for a state Assembly seat in 1994, he disappeared for a few days with another woman, leaving his wife in the uncomfortable position of calling his political allies as she tried to locate her husband.

If Villaraigosa engaged in another extramarital affair, that relationship could be utterly mundane. But it could also involve a city commissioner or a city contractor, a lobbyist or a land-use lawyer, a reporter or a renters’-rights advocate. And if Villaraigosa has been seeing anyone whose work intersects with his public duties, then the public deserves to know.

One of the facts of public life is that once you accept the mantle of power, or the perks of fame, you also accept the liabilities - you don't get to choose. Villaraigosa needs to come clean and accept the consequences - only then can he move on.

Of course, this is a hard-hitting blog, so I have to ask the difficult question: Knowing that "Villaraigosa" was a made-up name to combine the existing surnames of Antonio Villar and Corina Raigosa, does this mean that Tony has to go back to his maiden name ...