Thread: L.A. mayor won't run for Calif. governor

L.A. mayor won't run for Calif. governor

Shaking up the Democratic race for governor next year, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa says he will not run.

Villaraigosa, who will begin his second term July 1, made the announcement today to CNN's Wolf Blitzer. He said he wanted to spend more time with his city, which is facing its worst fiscal crisis in several decades.

The Los Angeles Times has more.

So far, only San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has officially declared his candidacy and has been actively campaigning. His city also faces a deep financial hole, and he has been criticized by city officials and others for either being absent or not spending more time focused on resolving the city's budget crisis.

State Attorney General Jerry Brown has been expected to announce his candidacy but has not yet done so.

(AP file photo.)

Posted at 04:50 PM/ET, June 22, 2009

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/20 ... ernor.html

Villaraigosa bows out of California governor's race

1:20 PM | June 22, 2009

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced on national television today he would not be running for California governor in 2010 after flirting with a bid for higher office for months.

Elected to a second, four-year term in March, the mayor told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that he wanted to devote his full attention to Los Angeles, which is facing its worst fiscal crisis in decades.

Villaraigosa’s decision adds a dash of clarity to the race for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination which, at the moment, appears will be between state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Brown has yet to say if he will run, while Newsom already has announced his candidacy.


In a recent Los Angeles Times Poll, voters citywide gave Villaraigosa a luke-warm approval rating, and a plurality opposed his entrance into the governor’s race. Villaraigosa received a favorable job approval rating from 55% of those surveyed, statistically equivalent to the vote he won in the city’s March election against a field of little-known and underfunded candidates.

Starting in July, the mayor and city council agreed to lay off 1,200 city workers, and furlough those who remain to help close a $530 million deficit for 2009-2010. City officials continue to negotiate with city unions for alternatives, but no deals have been announced.

Given the city’s precarious financial situation, and with Villaraigosa set to sworn into a new term on July 1, announcing for governor could have created a sticky political situation for the 56-year-old mayor.
Plus, winning the California governor’s race has proven to be an elusive quest for big-city mayors.

Several Los Angeles mayors including Tom Bradley, Richard Riordan and Sam Yorty all tried, and lost, along with San Francisco’s Joseph Alioto. Pete Wilson, the former mayor of San Diego, lost once and became a U.S. senator before trying again and claiming victory over former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein, who went on to become a U.S. senator.

The latest statewide Field Poll in March found that without Feinstein in the 2010 governor’s race, Brown was the top Democratic contender with 25%, followed by Villaraigosa with 22% and Newsom with 16%.

-- Phil Willon and Maeve Reston at L.A. City Hall

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... -race.html

Villaraigosa isn't running for governor because he fears being investigated for his part in all the corruption going on in the city Los Angeles.

Well thank God for blessings great and small!!

I did have my doubts that he actually would run for governor because even he must realize that his popularity extends only as far as the boundaries of his own private kingdom of LA and the reality was most likely that he didn't stand a chance........but, on the other hand, he's just arrogant enough, and it is California where many things thought improbable have a way of becoming fact. Add in Murphy's law and, well, anything was possible.

But at least Californians don't have that nightmare to contend with on top of everything else and can focus on stopping Newsome as well as any other candidate not interested in doing what's best for the state and it's American citizen/legal immigrant population.

They need a hero at this point.

Originally Posted by Molly

Villaraigosa isn't running for governor because he fears being investigated for his part in all the corruption going on in the city Los Angeles.

and he knows that there are not enough illegals in the state that can vote for him the way they can in LA

Originally Posted by jamesw62

Originally Posted by Molly

Villaraigosa isn't running for governor because he fears being investigated for his part in all the corruption going on in the city Los Angeles.

and he knows that there are not enough illegals in the state that can vote for him the way they can in LA

hehe...you two stole my thunder on that one. Now CA needs to focus on keeping that wack job Newsome out of office. He's almost as bad as Villar.

Originally Posted by SicNTiredInSoCal

Originally Posted by jamesw62

Originally Posted by Molly

Villaraigosa isn't running for governor because he fears being investigated for his part in all the corruption going on in the city Los Angeles.

and he knows that there are not enough illegals in the state that can vote for him the way they can in LA

hehe...you two stole my thunder on that one. Now CA needs to focus on keeping that wack job Newsome out of office. He's almost as bad as Villar.

I agree about Newsome! My husband and I are relieved to hear that former gang member Villaraigosa is out...Now we have to hope Newsome never has a chance for governor either.

Steve Lopez:

Antonio Villaraigosa has himself to blame for not running for governor

Right now, he knows he can't win, given all the self-inflicted damage he's done.

Steve Lopez
2:58 PM PDT, June 22, 2009
» Discuss Article (84 Comments)

Of course L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said no to a run for governor.

What else could he say?

You can't do a mediocre job, get lukewarm support in the polls, and announce one week before the start of your second term that you're graduating to bigger challenges. That'd be like getting a 2.0 GPA in high school and announcing you'd like to be a brain surgeon.

Although Villaraigosa had already made it clear he was probably going to bow out of the race, there was our guy on CNN with Wolf Blitzer this afternoon, making it official on national television. Pure Antonio. He actually thinks the rest of the country cares.

"I can't leave this city in the middle of a crisis," he said. "It's as simple as that."

Because of our crisis?

Here's a bulletin:

He's not running because at the moment, he knows he wouldn't win, given all the self-inflicted damage he's done by way of empty public promises and dubious private choices.

Trust me, if he still thought he had a chance, he'd be scratching at the doors of donors in every ZIP code. And if state Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown or San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stumble any time soon, I wouldn't be surprised to see Villaraigosa back in the race, provided he had enough time to raise the loot.

Don't bet on that happening, though, until he rehabilitates himself.

I'm hoping that one day he'll be bound for glory again. At the moment, however, he's the little engine who couldn't.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me ... 978.column

So am I to assume Jerry Brown is the only real option at this point? Could someone from California give us their opinion on Brown, please?

Jerry Brown - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edmund Gerald "Jerry" Brown, Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is the current Attorney General and a former governor of the State of California. . . .

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Brown


Jerry Brown 2010

Previously used in his campaign for Oakland Mayor, but currently deals with Attorney General's activities. Includes biographical data, news, . . .

www.jerrybrown.org/ -