Opinion: Villaraigosa is golden

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The gods and goddesses of political fortune have a wicked sense of humor and an undying love for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, as evidenced by this week’s mayoral blog/news cycle. Start with blogger Luke Ford’s outrage that no one at this paper, or anywhere else, had weighed in on the excruciatingly important fact that L.A.’s mayor has been spotted without his wedding ring. That’s an open invitation to unbury the already well-documented and (we had assumed) distant past marital problems of the first couple. The mayor’s staff answers that the boss had lost some weight and the ring was slipping off. Uh, OK. Guys, you’re making things worse. Can anyone else help out here?

Why, yes. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to the rescue. For all the details check in with our friends at Political Muscle or the original story in the San Francisco Chronicle, but here’s the gist: Newsom was forced to admit he had an affair with an aide...who just happened to be the wife of Newsom’s good friend and campaign manager. The affair is almost beside the point, even though it was with an underling. The SF mayor--who until this week was being talked about as Villaraigosa’s chief rival for governor in four years--betrayed his friend and political adviser, lying to him for months. We should trust this guy?

Meanwhile, Villaraigosa’s ring is back on and he looks, in comparison to the randy mayor of Baghdad by the Bay, like a Boy Scout. He also looks more and more like the next governor of California. For some insurance, though, those gods and goddesses of political fortune might want to lure John Garamendi into some kind of scandal.