Mayoral hopeful Antonio Villaraigosa got a little help from his
friends Saturday when Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., and several other
high profile Democrats came together to roundly endorse the
councilman’s run for the mayor’s office.
Kerry told the hundreds of Angelenos who gathered at Los Angeles
Valley College, a community college in the San Fernando Valley,
that he couldn’t imagine a better choice for mayor than
Villaraigosa.
Villaraigosa is currently leading incumbent Mayor Jim Hahn by
nearly 20 points with the runoff election in less than three weeks,
according to a recent Los Angeles Times poll.
Standing side by side on stage with the Massachusetts senator
and former presidential candidate amid sprays of red, white and
blue balloons were former assembly speaker Bob Hertzberg, state
Sen. Richard Alarcón, D-San Fernando Valley, and Councilman
Bernard Parks ““ all of whom were eliminated after the mayoral
primary in March. Dolores Huerta, a former UC regent and labor
activist who worked closely with Cesar Chavez, also addressed the
crowd, eliciting chants of “SÃ, se puede.”
After thanking Villaraigosa for his work as national co-chairman
for his 2004 presidential run, Kerry went on to emphasize the
councilman’s potential to give the city a fresh start.
Kerry also expressed confidence in Villaraigosa’s ability
to reduce crime and traffic and reform the city’s school
system.
“We have to make sure that our teachers are paid
adequately and they have a class size where they could pay
attention to kids,” Kerry said.
Villaraigosa, a one-time teachers union organizer, recently
expressed his belief that the mayor should have total oversight
over the Los Angeles Unified School District, a significant power
shift compared to the current system, which provides the mayor with
virtually no authority over the school district.
Many in attendance expressed an interest in the future of L.A.
schools.
“I was at a meeting (Hahn) had at Locke High School, and
he lacked energy. His sister was there and she seemed to have more
energy than him,” said Karla Edwards, a teacher at Locke High
School attending the rally. “We need a strong mayor, and
Antonio is that man.”
After a series of speeches praising the councilman, Villaraigosa
got his chance at the microphone and reiterated his promises to add
a thousand new police officers and quell the city’s traffic
problems by setting the framework for a world-class mass transit
system, a promise Hahn has dismissed as a pipe dream.
“Over the last few years, there’s been a thick brown
haze hanging over City Hall, and I’m not just talking about
the scandals or the air quality. I’m talking about limited
horizons,” Villaraigosa said.
Villaraigosa supporters were met with some resistance, as a
group of about a hundred Hahn supporters gathered along the
rally’s outskirts to loudly express their disapproval for
Villaraigosa.
The protestors, many of whom hail from the Boyle Heights area
that Villaraigosa represents, often drowned out the cries of
support from the Villaraigosa camp and forced the day’s
speakers to shout over their chants of “Recall Tony”
and “A sellout, Villaraigosa!”
“He said he was going to serve our community for four
years and then he said, “˜Oh no, I got to run for mayor
now.’ He said he was going to focus on issues, next thing you
know he’s working for Kerry, doing a campaign for him,”
said protestor Bryan Pulido, a Boyle Heights resident. “For
already two years, he’s been campaigning for everything
except for us so we’re sick of him.”
Concerns that Villaraigosa used his constituency as a stepping
stone to higher office were common among the protestors.
Supporters from each camp often engaged in shouting matches.
Chants of “Hahn is gone” from the Villaraigosa devotees
were frequent.
“Los Angeles is the second largest city in America and it
seems that local politics don’t matter here, and having
somebody with greater personality will really give the city the
boost it needs in terms of civic responsibility and
interest,” said Silverlake resident Maria Vanko.
Though many of the protestors said they strongly supported Kerry
in the 2004 presidential contest, some believed the Massachusetts
senator’s endorsement was of little worth.
“Kerry has nothing to do with California, Los Angeles or
Boyle Heights. If he would’ve been my president it would have
been a different story, but right now he doesn’t represent
anything having to do with my community,” said Boyle Heights
resident Jose Aguilar.
While Kerry addressed the crowd, his microphone stopped working,
leaving Villaraigosa to awkwardly wave to the restless crowd until
an aide came to his rescue, leading the audience and those on stage
in an impromptu rendition of the star spangled banner.