Antonio Villaraigosa

Antonio Villaraigosa, the powerful and personable speaker of the state Assembly, announced Saturday that he is launching his campaign for mayor of Los Angeles, a move that brings new dynamism to an already large and growing field of candidates. "I'm running," he said simply in an interview Saturday afternoon. "I've decided that after a year of speculation and, more importantly, introspection on my part, I should run for mayor." Villaraigosa said he believes his track record as a coalition builder combined with his passionate idealism make him the right candidate to guide Los Angeles into the new century.

In 1992, the acquittal of four police officers accused of beating Rodney King was the match that ignited a city, setting off a wave of violence that left 53 dead, thousands injured and hundreds of businesses destroyed. There was a lot of accumulated tinder to burn. Los Angeles was struggling with a faltering and de-industrialized economy that left too many without good jobs, a wave of demographic transition that caused ethnic and generational tensions, and a widening gap between rich and poor that was just beginning to emerge into public view - a bit like the U.S. today.

A Los Angeles television reporter is dating Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, about two years after his extramarital affair with another local newscaster led to the breakup of his 20-year marriage. KTLA-TV Channel 5 reporter Lu Parker, a former Miss U.S.A., has been dating Villaraigosa since March, station officials confirmed Monday. On Sunday, while working as a weekend anchor, Parker announced a story about the likelihood of Villaraigosa running for governor in 2010.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came into office seven years ago with a remarkably ambitious agenda, proposing to solve many of L.A.'s most intractable problems: He would be the mayor who fixed the schools, cleaned up the gang problem and beefed up the Police Department. And, most important, he branded himself as the city's "transportation mayor. " Some of these promises have been fulfilled, yet progress in most areas has been incremental and not necessarily attributable to Villaraigosa.

Re "Villaraigosa Sets a Post-Ethnic Standard for L.A.," Opinion, April 15: It is absurd to compare Antonio Villaraigosa to Al Smith, New York's first Irish American assemblyman and governor. The Irish immigrants who created a strong presence and sense of community in that state did so legally; whereas a large percentage of the Latinos supporting Villaraigosa are illegal immigrants. Furthermore, those same Irish immigrants accepted the U.S. as their home and new way of life, in contrast to the thousands of Latino immigrants who resist assimilation and view their stay in the U.S. as a necessity, instead of a desire.

It's been eight months, almost a full human gestation period, since Antonio Villaraigosa lost his campaign to become mayor. It might be a good time, I thought, to see what the former speaker of the California Assembly made of the experience. By now, surely, his take on it must be fully formed.

L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stopped by The Times last week to discuss with editors and reporters his plans to close the city's budget deficit. Below is a partial transcript. Antonio Villaraigosa : I don't take these decisions lightly.... In no small part I think all of us kind of look in the mirror and feel good or not feel good about the person we seen in the mirror in no small part because of the jobs we have. So laying people off is not something I do lightly, it's not something I relish.

Re "Hahn Coasts to Victory," June 6: My faith in the people of Los Angeles has been restored! We have a new mayor in the second-largest city in this country, and he was the better choice. James Hahn will be the new mayor of Los Angeles and Antonio Villaraigosa should be subpoenaed for his actions. I am so glad that a corrupt and immoral person did not win this race. The last thing we need is a person to stain the image of this proud city. Los Angeles has its problems, and we need a mayor with integrity and morals to help move the city in a direction that will make it the envy of this nation.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's top advisor announced Wednesday that he is resigning from his post, a surprise move that created new upheaval in an office buffeted by a string of departures during the mayor's second term. Jeff Carr, who has been chief of staff since September 2009, said he did not have a job lined up and a Villaraigosa spokeswoman said no replacement has been selected. He will leave later this summer. The announcement comes three months after the departure of First Deputy Mayor Austin Beutner, who left after 15 months to explore a bid for mayor.

DOES he or doesn't he live here? I searched in vain for some sign of human occupation in the library, living room, game room, garden room, powder room, dining room, breakfast room and courtyard terrace, and all I came up with was a framed photo on an antique secretary of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa flashing his radiant white smile.

Even as city workers protested planned cuts outside, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa avoided talk of layoffs during his annual State of the City address Wednesday. He chose instead to cheerlead a proposed ballot measure that he said would allow the region to rapidly expand its transit system. The mayor devoted only five paragraphs in his seven-page speech to his proposed budget, which is due to be released Friday. He has previously said the budget will include "a large number" of layoffs.

Faced with a congressional stalemate over transportation funding, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wants county voters to approve an indefinite extension of a half-cent sales tax used for transit projects. A proposed November ballot measure will be a centerpiece of Villaraigosa's State of the City address Wednesday evening at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, according to the mayor's office. It marks the latest effort by the mayor, who is trying to cement a legacy as a transportation visionary during his final year in office, to borrow against future tax revenues and rapidly expand L.A. County's transit system.

In a rare display of bipartisanship, the Senate approved a $109-billion transportation bill Wednesday that boosts Los Angeles' efforts to speed expansion of its bus and rail system. The measure passed 74 to 22, underscoring the political appeal of a bill that supporters say will create jobs and reduce traffic congestion. The bill, possibly one of the few major pieces of legislation that could be signed into law before the fall election, maintains the current level of funding for highway and transit projects for two years.

If the Los Angeles mayoral race were a dinner party, the folks around the table would have plenty to talk about. At one time, all four of the leading contenders served together at City Hall. But one year before the primary election, the candidates are beginning to play up their differences as they quietly work to assemble key blocs of voters. The field includes two officeholders vying to be the city's first female mayor; a well-seasoned scion of a Los Angeles political family; and a wealthy one-time Wall Street investment banker who oversaw a large swath of city government for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been selected chairman of this summer's Democratic National Convention, elevating his role as a campaign surrogate and raising his national profile as he weighs his political future. A formal announcement was scheduled Wednesday in Washington, and the mayor plans to join President Obama in Holmby Hills at a Wednesday night fundraiser for Obama's reelection effort. "I've always planned to campaign" for the president, Villaraigosa said in an interview, and he readily accepted when Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager, and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the head of the Democratic National Committee, called last week to offer him the convention post.

USC students enrolled in this semester's Case Studies in Modern Leadership class have been pondering what makes a good leader. They've been assigned readings on influential people — including Gen. Douglas MacArthur and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — and have been schooled on what their instructor has identified as the six stages of leadership. But lest the curriculum become too theoretical, this week they were paid a visit by a flesh-and-blood public official. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa strolled in a few minutes after class began, accompanied by a swirl of aides.

He goes to sleep after midnight and wakes up at 5 -- and for the rest of the day he rarely stops talking. He likes dressing dapper, he said, because he grew up with holes in his clothes. He's fastidious about his appearance; his hair is always moussed, his clothes always pressed. He'll wear a sports jacket, even in 90-degree heat.

Earlier this month Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa went to Washington in his capacity as president of theU.S. Conference of Mayors and scolded the federal government for its chronic underfunding of cities. He came home in time for the release of an audit report criticizing his administration for leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money on the table. Why? In some cases, the city departments the mayor oversees simply failed to apply. Did Villaraigosa mess up? In this case, perhaps not. Let's be clear: The mayor's administration has been terrible at collecting money.

Two high-level political consultants have left the campaign of Los Angeles mayoral candidate Austin Beutner just days after he gave a major policy speech attacking City Hall. Sean Clegg said he and Ace Smith, both from San Francisco-based SCN Strategies, resigned over "strategic differences. " Beutner said the parting was mutual. Beutner spent 15 months as Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's "jobs czar," ran the Department of Water and Power on an interim basis and tried to make the city more business-friendly.