Los Angeles Wave: Villaraigosa begins re-election campaign, skips candidate forum

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa kicked off his campaign for re-election Saturday with a speech at his Boyle Heights campaign office, while snubbing an event in South Los Angeles where his lessor-known opponents debated.

The mayor’s formal announcement that he is running for a second term featured mariachis, folk dancers and hundreds of supporters chanting “si se puede!” — yes we can — while at the debate at Holman United Methodist Church in Jefferson Park, about 80 people listened as the other candidates accused Villaraigosa of corruption and cozying up to unions.

After his announcement, Villaraigosa told the Los Angeles Times he meant no disrespect by skipping the debate.

“I have a great deal of respect for anybody who’s willing to put it on the line and run for office, and I certainly respect that fact that these candidates are doing that,” Villaraigosa said. “But I’m going to talk to voters, I’m going to talk to the people about our record and, importantly, what we intend to do in the next four years.”

With Villaraigosa facing nine little-known challengers in the March 3 election, and having amassed a $2.7 million campaign warchest through Dec. 31 — far more than any of his opponents — the mayoral campaign has been low-key so far, even though the election is less than a month away.

The Villaraigosa campaign unveiled two television commercials on its Web site Friday, with the slogan, “Bringing people together, getting things done.’’

One ad features a parent of a student attending an elementary school under the control of the Villaraigosa-backed Partnership for Los Angeles Schools, while the other focuses on the city’s declining crime rate and increased number of officers in the Los Angeles Police Department since Villaraigosa became mayor in 2005.

At the candidate forum, the other candidates unanimously denounced Proposition B — which Villaraigosa has championed — a ballot measure that would fund a solar energy program for city buildings.

“[Measure B] gives the City Council and the mayor direct influence over your DWP rates,” said mayoral candidate David Hernandez. “Now, what happened to your trash fees this year?” Hernandez said. “Ask yourself: `Are you comfortable with allowing the City Council to have control over your DWP rates?’”

If Measure B passes, the Department of Water and Power would place solar photovoltaic systems throughout the city and connect them to the city’s existing electrical grid. Solar photovoltaic systems convert sunlight to electricity.

Opponents of the initiative say it would result in a monopoly, since the Department of Water and Power would own all of the solar panels.

“This is a bad idea because, basically [the city] is going to take several thousand of dollars out of your pockets and spend it as they see fit,” said mayoral candidate Phil Jennerjahn. “As is with all monopolies, they are not efficient, they are not effective. (Measure B) a bad idea.’’

The candidates were also asked to give their solutions on restoring the city’s middle class, the school district, lowering crime and creating new jobs.

Seven of the ten candidates showed up for the event hosted by the National Association for Equal Justice in America, an area civil rights organization. They included Carlos Alvarez, a 22-year-old legal assistant; the Rev. Craig X. Rubin; City Hall gadfly David “Zuma Dog” Saltzberg, James Harris and attorney Walter Moore, who is considered to be Villaraigosa’s most serious competition and the author of Jamiel’s Law, a proposed ordinance that would deny “sanctuary city” protection to illegal alien gang members.

The ordinance is named after Jamiel Andre Shaw II, a 17-year-old Los Angeles High football player murdered March 2, 2008, reportedly by a Latino gang member who was in the country illegally. A petition effort to get the measure on the ballot fell short of gathering enough names and the City Council has not supported the effort.

Absent were Bruce Darian, Deputy District Attorney Gordon Turner and Villaraigosa, which drew the ire of local activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson.

“Believe it or not, there are opponents, there are challengers to the mayor,” Hutchinson said before the forum. “They may not be high profile, well-heeled major names. But, nonetheless, they are challengers. They are contenders.”

He went on to say that Villaraigosa is a “mayor that is not fit to be re-elected” if he is not willing to attend community forums to assure his constituency that they have someone”firmly at the wheel in city government,” that is willing to “battle on behalf of your interest in the city.”

During Saturday’s forum, candidates were asked to comment on their understanding and the possible impact of Jamiel’s Law.

“Yes, there is gang activity that we must deal with,” Alvarez said. “There are criminal issues that we must deal with. But the answer is not repression, imprisonment — or more repression against youth. What we need to do is able to meet the needs of our youth. Youth in our society are facing real struggles.”

Moore defended his proposals saying Jamiel’s Law does not target the Latino community.

“Read Jamiel’s Law,’’ he said. “It applies to one and only one group. It’s not maids, it’s not nannies, it’s not busboys, it’s not waiters — it is documented gang members that don’t come here to work, they come here to kill. And they do not just kill black children. They kill everybody. They are criminals. It is idiotic to let predators swarm through your streets.”

At the mayor’s event, elected officials boasted about Villaraigosa’s record, saying his administration has caused violent crime to drop by 23 percent and that he has fought to improve schools and the environment.

At the beginning of Villaraigosa’s 20-minute speech, he seemed to apologize again for having an affair with a reporter that led to the breakup of his marriage, although he did not mention it directly.

“I’m sorry about the mistakes that have been made,” Villaraigosa said. “But one thing about me, I’ve always stayed focused on this job. I’ve always stayed focused on the central purpose of public service.”

Another candidates forum is scheduled for 1 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Claude Pepper Senior Citizen Center, 1762 S. La Cienega Blvd., organizers said.

“This has been the most quiet, unannounced election that I ever seen in the history of our city,” said Jonathan Taylor, the moderator for Saturday’s candidate forum. “It does not bode well for our city, the second largest city in our nation, to go forth with such an unsung election as vital as the mayoral election.”