http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/articles/2758896.html

Today is Sunday, May 07, 2006
Originally published Sunday, May 07, 2006
Updated Sunday, May 07, 2006
L.A. mayor treads a cautious path on illegal immigration
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa managed to support protesting marchers last week, but still told protesting students to go back to school.
By Dan Laidman
Copley News Service

Antonio Villaraigosa may become the first mayor west of the Mississippi to seize control of a school district, and his push for a subway to the beach is challenging the City of Angels' famous car culture.

But what's getting him the most media attention these days is the immigration debate that has been roiling the halls of Congress and the streets of U.S. cities. With Los Angeles the flashpoint for the mass demonstrations that have captivated the national media, the mayor -- whose father was born in Mexico and whose mother was born in California -- has become a sought-after spokesman.

"This issue barely registered in the mayoral campaign, but it's probably going to do more to define Antonio Villaraigosa's political future and political legacy than anything else he does as mayor," said Dan Schnur, a longtime Republican political consultant now teaching at USC.

With such high stakes, Villaraigosa has tread a cautious path. He avoided the mass rally on his doorstep at City Hall this week and instead fired up the crowd at a second protest whose organizers shunned a controversial school walkout and economic boycott.

The mayor has defended the dignity of undocumented workers and advocated a path for them to gain citizenship, but he has also called for stronger border protection. This week he waded further into the debate by denouncing a Spanish language version of the national anthem as "offensive" and saying demonstrators should not wave foreign flags.

It is a balancing act that has the potential to alienate Villaraigosa's progressive base, but one that could pay dividends if he runs for higher office, political observers say. Some Democrats have already begun touting his candidacy for governor in 2010.

"Between his speakership in the state Assembly and his record as mayor of Los Angeles, he has plenty to appeal to liberals within the party, but if he wants a future in higher office he needs to establish some moderate credentials," said Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College and a former Republican political aide. "The past week has probably been good for his moderate credentials."

Schnur agreed. He pointed to the moment during the student demonstrations in late March when Villaraigosa, himself a former student activist, told protesting teenagers to go back to school. Schnur called it "the savviest political move of 2006" by any politician.

"He expressed support for their goals but he also laid down the line," Schnur said. "It was very well done."

The state's political climate seems to be on the mayor's side. Recent polls have shown a majority of Californians support immigration reform that adds border protection but also provides a guest worker program and path to citizenship.

Speaking to reporters this week, the mayor downplayed the danger of his immigration stance, comparing the political risks to the chances one takes of slipping on a bar of soap while getting out of the bathtub.

"I'm a proud American but also proud of where my family came from," Villaraigosa said. "These (protesters) want to be a part of the American dream and I support that. I don't necessarily need to be part of every demonstration to manifest that support."


In fact, the mayor seemed to be weighing where and when to manifest his support up until the last possible minute on May 1. With hundreds of thousands of demonstrators filling downtown and thousands more marching west toward the site of the second rally, Villaraigosa and his aides told reporters he would only speak to the crowd if he could still make an early evening flight to Texas to speak to National Football League officials about bringing a team to Los Angeles.

Ultimately the mayor did address the more moderate rally, where he appeared next to such establishment figures as Cardinal Roger Mahony. Villaraigosa told the crowd that "today we say with one voice we want fair and sensible, bipartisan immigration reform that secures our borders, enforces our laws and that has consequences for breaking our laws."

It was a far cry from the rhetoric of the era when Villaraigosa came of age as an activist and union organizer.

Given the mayor's position and possible aspirations to higher office, he must be circumspect, said Armando Navarro, an ethnic studies professor at University of California, Riverside, who helped organize some of the recent marches as a coordinator with the National Alliance for Human Rights.

Nonetheless, it's a difficult reality for some old allies to accept, Navarro said.

"Sometimes it's very disappointing because once our activists become politicians they tend to become so expediency-oriented that everything is calculated of how will they benefit from the decisions that they make and how will it propel them to the next stage of their careers," he said. "That's the reality of politics, not just the mayor."