Advice for Antonio
Judging from the news coverage, yesterday and today seemed particularly bad for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
First, he was captured on cellphone video shopping at a mall in Encino with his mistress, Mirthala Salinas. That video was promptly sold to TMZ.com, where you can watch it. Theoretically it isn’t that interesting — just a highly recognizable public figure and his girlfriend, until recently a major local news broadcast figure, neither of them apparently smart enough to realize that everyone everywhere now has a cellphone with video capability, and that of course someone would capture them on said video and sell it to a sleazy website, where it would then lead off the local news. My understanding of witness protection is that it works only when one relocates, stops being a public figure, and doesn’t act stupidly. The video is also interesting because of the immediate distance the mayor puts between himself and Salinas as soon as he sees someone pointing a cellphone at him; I understand the impulse, but it’s already too late. (And actually, if he’d had better impulse control perhaps he wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place.)
Secondly, we were then treated on the evening news to newswoman Ana Garcia’s ongoing pursuit of Antonio at City Hall to release some sort of papers or others, papers that evidently James Hahn had released when he was mayor. If I’m remembering this storyline correctly, what Garcia and others are after is Villaraigosa’s schedule (no doubt, to fully establish how long he has been seeing Salinas on the sly). As part of this coverage, we are witness to Garcia’s passage through City Hall being illegally blocked by security, her being actively jostled (“Don’t push me! Don’t push me!” she cries out on tape), and Villaraigosa, finally cornered at some public event, lamely telling her on-camera that he’s just going to continue to focus on doing the people’s work. (Perhaps not realizing that he is the reason the focus has shifted.)
Finally, today there was a major rally downtown in support of state bill SB-840, which would establish single payer healthcare coverage in California. Hundreds and hundreds of activists and all the major local news crews were in attendance. Major speakers included Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi, actress/comedienne Lily Tomlin, City Council President Eric Garcetti, and, a surprise turn-up, the always entertaining presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. Who wasn’t there? Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Where was this rally held? Oh, the steps of City Hall. Tell me he’s not hiding out. Especially because, until recently, nothing got between Antonio and his limelight.
Given all this, I think I’ll share some advice for Antonio, advice I shared with two fellow Democrats in the car on the way down to the rally. I like Antonio, and I am rooting for him to pull himself out of his predicament of a 24/7 news cycle about his adultery which after two months so far just doesn’t seem to be ending. (And which he isn’t helping to end by going shoe-shopping with girlfriend in tow, thinking that those sunglasses actually hide his identity. Although this may be the first time in decades anyone has seen a mayor of Los Angeles in the Encino area when he wasn’t shopping for votes or donations.) A few years ago, when he was on the City Council and had not yet announced for mayor, I asked Antonio to do something about an issue I cared about; he did it, and I haven’t forgotten. Moreoever, although because I don’t live in the city proper I couldn’t vote for him, I don’t think people elected him to be faithful to his wife — they elected him to do a job. But now it’s the job that’s suffering.
So here’s the advice:
Antonio, stop sneaking around. You can’t avoid the camera crews, let alone the cellphones. Pick a moment (say, after a ribbon cutting), and give every news crew both professional and amateur the full benefit of your time. Stay an extra five hours if need be. Tell them that your relationship with Mirthala Salinas is an afffair of the heart, that you are a person of passion who got swept off his feet, that you ask for their understanding, that you are sorry that you hurt your wife and children, that you intend to keep seeing Ms. Salinas although you have made no decisions about marriage, and so on and on and on. You don’t need to share tawdry details, but you do need to be frank and forthcoming. In case you don’t get it, they’re chasing you because you seem to be hiding something. So stop hiding. And with regard to the papers that Ana Garcia wants: release them. If James Hahn released them, you should release them. Even if he didn’t, you should. You told people you were better than Hahn. Show it. And stop having security block her or shove her around, and give her a special interview as a make-nice.
Then, next time, you can join your compadres on the steps of City Hall for the news crews. And in a couple of years you can still run for governor.
p.s. Advice for Mirthala Salinas: your news career is over. Unless you pull a Geraldo and go tabloid.
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