Antonio Villaraigosa Edmund G. Brown, Jr. (Jerry) Elections

Gavin Bailing, Jerry’s Guy Taping, Antonio Thinking…?

wiretap-1

Okay, Gavin Newsom has dropped out of the race
for California Governor, for “family” reasons (AKA bad polling numbers).

Meg Whitman is a rich witch [It’s Halloween and that’s a technical term.] who believes she can buy an election, can’t" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen> remember when she last voted and won’t show up for debates. (In terms of her chances to win the 2010 race: Ebay, shmEbay. Snowball meet hell.)

Thus far, the rest of the Republican field—Tom Campbell and Steve Poizner—ain’t strong enough to stand up to the once-and-would-be-future Gov: Jerry Brown who, even though he’s an old guy, he still has enough energy to lite several medium-sized cities and is running an excellent pre-campaign campaign, what with all his high profile nabbings of mortgage fraudsters and other nasty types.

But, then also yesterday there was the kerfuffle bannered on the front page of the SF Chronicle, about how Jerry’s press guy illegally taped a conversation with a reporter and now, as it turns out, a lot of conversations with reporters.

Quite a scoop—except that painting the taping as illegal is quite a stretch.

Federal law says that if one side knows about the taping, the other side doesn’t have to know. However, yes, California law requires that both sides must know, but only if the conversation is a “confidential communication.”

California penal code defines “confidential communication” as:


….any communication carried on in circumstances as may reasonably indicate that any party to the communication desires it to be confined to the parties thereto, but excludes a communication made in a public gathering or in any legislative, judicial, executive or administrative proceeding open to the public, or in any other circumstance in which the parties to the communication may reasonably expect that the communication may be overheard or recorded.

An on-the-record interview for the purposes of later publication does not snugly fit within the covers of confidential.

On the other hand, if you are working for the state’s top cop and you do this stuff without mentioning it to those whom you are recording, and then defend yourself by saying, “you guys do it so we get to,” you look like an idiot.

A little while ago, Jerry wisely suspended the staffer, Scott Gerber.

Which brings us to…….Antonio.

I heard late on Friday afternoon that after the twinned news announcements of Gavin’s bow out, and Jerry’s guy’s Nixonian moment, there was chatter among high level staff in the Villaraigosa’s office about what a “great governor” the mayor would make.

One assumes that this is merely wishful thinking, and that Antonio and his people are not (gulp) actually contemplating such a move.

It is just wishful thinking, right Mr. Mayor?

28 Comments

  • Los Angeles is the gang capital of the world in large part, because it is a sanctuary city. The city is almost bankrupt, has some of the worst schools in the nation and the mayor has no clue how to manage this once great city.

    Villababoso was elected mayor because of his nationality not for his intelligence, abilities or accomplishments. Villababosa has helped convert Los Angeles to a third-world big city.

    Who in hell wants Villababoso to complete the conversion of all of California to a third world state. Oh wait, probably the illeagl aliens and thier apologizers form L.A.’s Eastside.

    Villababoso should be managing a taco truck or maybe a converted shopping cart, which is used for the sale of bacon wrapped hot-dogs.

  • Of course Antonio will run. Expect him to enter right at the filing deadline. His entry into the race will have one immediate positive effect: It’ll breathe some sound judgment back into the LATimes’ editors who now bury too much of the important day-to-day City Hall coverage deep inside the ugly A-section. Local government reporting will become almost as high a priority as entertainment and celebrity gossip, at least for a few months. It’ll remind many of us of the days when we actually had a good newspaper or two or three in town.

  • Mayor Villaraigosa: Just when I thought I was out… they pull me back in.

    Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.

  • Your sins are terrible HHC. It is just that you suffer. Your life could be redeemed, but I know you don’t believe that. You will not change.

  • Michel Corleone and Cardinal Lambeculo,

    I too suffered from Multiple Personality disorder and was also an attention whore. May I suggest a menudo enema for that which you suffer.

  • Whoever you guys select, either get someone that will stop screwing up the state (that, unfortunatly, means you need to get rid of the Democrat lock on your legislature), or get someone who screws it up so badly that everyone leaves so I can move back.

    But keep on as you are doing, and Californians will keep moving here to Arizona and bringing their toxic political ideas with them – ultimately ruining this state also!

  • Make marijuana possession punishable by death! We also need to crack down on illegal immigration. Gangs didn’t exist in LA until all of the immigrants started flooding in this past decade. I don’t care if that’s racist. It’s true! Profiling works!

  • People who always refer to Los Angeles as a “once great city”…when was it great? I’ve lived here for 70 years and it’s always sucked. Glad I have a pastime to cope with it.

  • BTW, Heaven Help California, East Los Angeles isn’t in the city of Los Angeles. They don’t vote for mayor, so the illegals and their apologists in East LA did not vote for Villaraigosa. More likely the hipsters in Highland Park did. But it’s ok, Lupe Dobbs. We get your point.

  • Well, it looks like the comedy act above, with their combined IQ of 50 have decided to team up to do what neither of them can do on their own……

    What a shame these people stoop to such slander and lies, because they feel their beliefs being threatened by mexicans. After reading their latest tirades, I have reached the conclusion that they all are simply incapable of telling the truth on anything. Nearly every post is full of lies….things most people would be embarrassed to say.

  • I’m concerned that we balance state policies so that, whatever happens, people like John Moore don’t flood the state. Also John, since we Californians carry the federal government at a rate of more than $3-to-$2 compared to Arizonans, it looks like the problem may be that we’re bearing the burden of the less productive states that generate far less income. And the irony of a nut who believes in torture and hanging journalists referring to other people’s political beliefs as “toxic” is a little too rich.

  • The only reason why half-ass educated dumbo Villa-a-pendejo got elected was because he failed to have an office to fill after being termed out of the State’s Captial.
    Villa-a-pendejo came back to LA to collect on his political gambling chips, so all his dipshit political cronies – specifically Gloria Molina, backed him up for mayor of Los Angeles.
    It so sad that the people of Los Angeles have to get struck with the worst possible (pendejo) representing them in local and state politics.
    The Mexican and Latino Community just love to elect the biggest loud mouth with a puny brain.
    The Mayor has done nothing -zero for LA.
    I guess his has a great imagination that the people really love him and that he has accomplished a lot.
    The only ones that love him are his cronies friends -they have no choice, they are still in a political ass rubbing collection plan.

  • It’s normally my practice to ignore rants by sickos, but Reg’s idea that Arizona is “less productive” because of it’s net balance on federal taxes vs spending shows just that reg is remarkably ignorant of basic economics.

    As for his personal slurs, they are lying trollery, not deserving of response.

  • Everytime I see “reg”
    Its a sign to jump-on-down to the next comment.
    I believe everyone blogging here does the same –
    Maybe Ms. Fremon should add a common “collaspe” blog feature – we can select a specfic comment without having to scroll down so much turd verbage.

  • All three of you have descended into attack mode. Why is this happening with smart people? There must be a 12-step program for this sort of thing.

    Or maybe we can have a nice little side box labeled EXTREME FIGHTING, THE BLOG COMMENTERS VERSION if I can just find the right widget.

    Until then however….

  • Celeste, online conversation has long been filled with attacks – at least since I started engaging in online political discussion in 1980 or so (yes, reg, I obviously started the whole thing).

    That being said, reg is almost always in attack mode. Normally I just ignore him, but in this case I was responding to his bizarre economic comment. I sometimes wonder why his constant vicious and profane ad hominem attacks are not more often reproached by blog owners.

    But.. I’ll try to restrain myself.

  • That would be cool if Antonio ran. He could win, considering the Latino vote he’d bring out. I don’t think he has the gall to take on Brown, though. Barring any kind of scandal (and I mean a real scandal, not the type of daily stories that right wingers try to make scandals out of ), Villaraigosa will be governor someday. It would be about time that we had a governor who truly represented most of the people in this state, and not just sheltered snobs in gated communities and paranoid rubes in rural areas.

  • Ms. Fremon, what on earth has happened to Woody? I surely hope he is not constipated and unable to sit in front of his keyboard.

  • RT, yes, I see. Thank you for the alert. In the future when I see people expropriating the names of others, I’ll delete (when I get to it). So y’all don’t do it, please. Thanks.

    John, I’m trying to correct it now, as time permits, as it has become a bad habit for a lot of people—off and on.

  • John – What’s bizarre about the facts ? Your ranting doesn’t have an ounce of analytical or factual content. We pay, per capita, far more federal taxes than Arizonans. We carry you. That’s basic economics. If you want to explain it away, that’s your call – but you don’t even try to do that. Just throw brickbats out of profound ignorance. Your idiotic hope that we all leave California to make room for the likes of you is offensive and childish. But you whine and act hurt when someone pushes back at your bullshit.

    You started out with the adjective “toxic” political ideas, so don’t whine – you’re also an advocate of torture, which puts you in a special category of pervert IMHO.

  • Reg, paying taxes vs amount of federal money spent is not a measure of productivity. For example, one reason the Arizona has high federal spending is the huge amount of Federal land here; another is the large percentage of Indians; another is the high percentage of military operations.

    The fact that you keep bringing up torture or hanging journalists in unrelated discussions is instructive as to your motives and the value of your comments.

  • John – you don’t get it, do you ?

    I sayd “we Californians carry the federal government at a rate of more than $3-to-$2 compared to Arizonans” – i.e. Californians PAY federal taxes at a per capita rate about 50% more $$ than Arizonans. I didn’t say that anything about how the money was spent. “Carry” means we Californians “pay for” fed budgets in the above sentence. So, yes, we are a far more productive state. That you also have a higher burn rate when the money gets doled out just adds insult to injury. Your assumption that I “don’t know anything about economics” turned out to be…uh…projection of your own ignorance of the facts.

    And the fact that you support torture and called for journalists to be hanged is very instructive of your motives and the value of your “toxic” comments. Don’t come here and glibly insult people and then act like a cry-baby when you get some shit thrown back at your sorry, saggy ass.

  • I’m actually curious as to the origin of Reg’s claim, and maybe I’ve asked this before. John, I think that it’s self evident that had you advocated for the “hanging” of liberal journalists than such a “position” would not only be “toxic” but it would obviously place you way outside any sort of rational discourse. Did you ever do such a thing? I think that’s a fair question especially since Reg has brought it up.

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