What's left of L.A.'s left?

If the Davis crew endorsed cultish devotion to one individual, the rest of the intellectual left steamrolled dissent through its momentum and an aura of inevitability. The few naysaying opposition voices, such as Jill Stewart, then a columnist at the now defunct New Times L.A., and economics writer Joel Kotkin were written off as contemptuous right-wing renegades. And indeed, they were angry, indignant and downright screechy voices that tried to poke holes in the common wisdom. Yet only in L.A. could these disgruntled Democrats be considered right-wingers.

Then, depending on how you see it, in 1999 Davis was either run out of town by an overzealous fact-checker who questioned his credibility (especially in his book "City of Quartz") or he just naturally morphed into his rightful place as a global writer with a consequently waning influence in L.A. Two years later, Meyerson moved to Washington to edit the liberal opinion journal the American Prospect. In the span of two years, L.A. lost its most prominent liberal and left-wing narrators.

"That part of the left had basically gone away," said Loyola Marymount political scientist Fernando Guerra, "and there was no one of comparable stature to take their place."

In the next few years, the hiring of new editorial page editors at The Times and a shift in ownership at the Weekly heralded a new era. In 2004, then-Times Opinion Editor Michael Kinsley was looking to break with the editorial page's past. Under Kinsley hire Andres Martinez, the editorial page remains reliably liberal on social issues but more fiscally conservative and pro-business than in the past. In the 2005 special election, for example, the paper backed a "paycheck protection" ballot initiative that sought to minimize the power of public employee unions.

The next year, the New Times Media chain of weekly papers, based in Phoenix, merged with Village Voice Media, which owned the L.A. Weekly, and began to remake the paper in its image. Known for its anti-PC irreverence and old-fashioned muckraking, the editorial leadership of New Times is now pushing the Weekly toward hard news and away from liberal advocacy. Two weeks ago, Stewart was hired to supervise local news coverage.

But ironically, the most decisive blow to the dominance of L.A.'s intellectual left came in 2005 with Villaraigosa's commanding victory over James K. Hahn in the mayoral race. A symbol of the triumphant left, Villaraigosa's mayoralty posed a dilemma to local liberal writers who were used to seeing themselves as aligned with an embattled and insurgent movement. After one of their own ascended to the top of local politics, the movement's discipline and unity naturally dissipated.