From both sides, now
Mayor Villaraigosa spun badly the other day, the contrasting rotational forces of his past and his present whirling him out of control again. The effect was bleakly funny, but the substance of the mayor's spinning was hardly that.The issue that had the mayor going in circles was fiscal: how to pay for the programs and services that Los Angeles and every other city supplies with the limited revenues that come from an equally limited number of sources.
The November ballot includes Proposition 22 - a companion to Proposition 1A passed overwhelmingly (83.6%) by voters in 2004. Prop. 22 would further restrain the state legislature from transferring local revenues to backfill state deficits. The measure is sponsored by the League of California Cities, the statewide organization that lobbies the legislature on behalf of local governments big and small.
At a press conference on Monday in Sacramento, Villaraigosa seemed to stand with Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez and his condemnation of Prop. 22 as another example of ballot-box budgeting. "We are so constrained by initiative, by structural frameworks, that make it very difficult to proceed ahead," Villaraigosa told reporters. When he was asked if that meant he was joining Pérez in opposing the measure, Villaraigosa said, "I'm not supporting it . . ."
When pressed by reporters to explain, Villaraigosa said, "I haven't seen that initiative. I haven't read it. I'm not for governing by initiative, either. I may want to protect local government funding. I've been here a lot. And I'm pretty loud in my advocacy here. You know, I'm not a shrinking violet when it comes to defending my town. But, you know, I'm also not a demagogue."
A principled stand was taken . . . except Villaraigosa in March was one of nine big-city mayors who signed a strongly worded letter in support of the ballot measure. Later, press secretary Arielle Goren told reporters that Villaraigosa really does support Proposition 22 and that it was unclear to the mayor what Pérez was referring to.
Villaraigosa was riding the political carousel. In Sacramento, where he learned the art of going along to get along, he spoke as a good soldier of the Assembly. And at home, the mayor was on the side of Prop. 22.
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