For more than 2 1/2 years, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been the public face of Los Angeles, appearing in one neighborhood after the next and often leading the nightly news.
But over the last two months, he has devoted noticeable time and energy to a cause outside the city. By today, the mayor will have spent 18 of the last 65 days on the road for presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) -- visiting Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and Texas as the primary election season has intensified.
On Friday, he started what was supposed to be a five-day swing through the Lone Star State to woo Latino voters ahead of Tuesday's important presidential primary, but he decided to cut the trip short and return home this morning.
Villaraigosa, a national co-chairman of Clinton's campaign, is one of her leading messengers with Latino voters. But in and around City Hall, political figures and neighborhood activists have begun to notice the mayor's absences, sometimes quipping "Where's Antonio?" as they guess where he will turn up next. The critics question whether Villaraigosa is being distracted from pressing city business, including a budget deficit that requires tens of millions of dollars in cuts.
"I think it's too much for the mayor to be gone for reasons that have nothing to do with Los Angeles," said Sandy Brown, president of the Holmby-Westwood Property Owners Assn. "I don't see a nexus between campaigning on behalf of a candidate and bringing business back."
Jill Banks Barad, chairwoman of the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils and a Villaraigosa supporter, acknowledged that "We're almost used to him being somewhere with the [Clinton] campaign. . . . He's not as visible in the community as he had been."
But Barad added: "I feel that if there were a crisis, he would catch the next plane and come right back."
Villaraigosa's aides said he hasn't missed any important events at home and that the majority of his Clinton campaign work is on weekends. They said he is tethered to City Hall by his cellphone and a small army of deputies who keep in constant touch and carry out his directives.
Deputy Mayor Sean Clegg said Villaraigosa views the Clinton campaign as an investment in the city's future. A Democratic president, the mayor believes, would concentrate money and attention on the needs of big cities.
