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Telenovela Mayor: Oops, Antonio Villaraigosa Does it Again!

Por REBECA LOGAN

Posted: 2009-06-10 18:20:57

Filed Under: Latino News in English, Tu voto es tu futuro

Antonio Villaraigosa is the high profile mayor of Los Angeles, one of the largest and most famous cities in the United States. Much like the celebrities who live under his jurisdiction, the mayor has not met a camera he doesn't like.

By night you can find him at Hollywood's most exclusive engagements and by day at the White House with President Barack Obama for an economic recovery summit.

So it should come as no surprise that his personal life, especially his preference for high profile women and by that we mean local tv anchors- would become the talk of the town, or at least of the blogosphere.

Villaraigosas Women

Happier Times
Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa, his wife, Corina, and daughter Natalia attend the 48th Annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center on February 8, 2006. Married in 1987, the Mayor and school teacher Corina married in Montebello and remained together for 20 years. Corina filed for divorce in 2007 for "irreconcilable differences." In his first election for Mayor of Los Angeles, Villaraigosa cultivated an image of a consumate married man.

Stephen Shugerman, Getty Images

Worst timing ever?
Antonio Villaraigosa poses with Mirthala Salinas, a Telemundo television news anchor at the time. The Mayor's publicly acknowledged his affair with Salinas in the midst of his first term leading into his preparations for re-election. His public acknowledgement also strained the relationship between Villaraigosa and Hillary Clinton, who was said to be relying on him to help in her race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Salinas and Villaraigosa parted ways at the end of 2007.

JPI Studios

"Divorced" from Hillary Clinton
Ex-Presidential Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton and Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa campaigned together for her nomination. Simultaneously, the Mayor's re-election occurred, along with the publicly announced affair and divorce proceedings from his wife.

David McNew, Getty Images

Oops Villaraigosa did it again!
Two years after his affair costing his 20 year marriage, Mayor Villaraigosa admitted he is dating another local broadcaster. This time the cameras turned to Lu Parker. Parker is a general assignment reporter and weekend anchor for KTLA-TV Channel 5 in Los Angeles, and is a former Miss U.S.A.
The affair is

ZUMA Press

Is he a politico with celebrity envy? A ladies man who happens to be mayor? or the latest poster boy for Hispanic male stereotypes? A combination of all of these?

His "friend with benefits" relationship with Telemundo TV reporter Mirthala Salinas, who just happened to be the one to break the story to Spanish speaking angelinos in 2007 that their mayor was about to get divorced from his wife of 20 years, became a local telenovela and made national headlines.

I apologize, and can I count on your vote?

Villaraigosa confirmed the affair himself in one of his many, many, many news conferences, while of course, asking for privacy, as his marriage to Corina Raigosa fell apart.

We all know how that ended. Ms. Salinas lost her job, and the mayor spent months apologizing up until his recent, and unusually narrow, re-election victory. He outspent 15-1 the obscure candidate who came in second and couldn't muster 130,000 votes, in the nation's second largest city. (i.e. close to 4 million souls)

But, we all know by now that affairs don't always kill political careers, and Villaraigosa, divorce still pending, moved on to the next newscaster, this time an ex-Miss USA and KTLA-TV Channel 5 anchor/reporter Lu Parker who was careful enough to inform her bosses before the story broke.

(That does not automatically make it ethical, but for now she still has her job, which includes "reading" to TV viewers stories about whether he paramour will run for governor of California)

However, unlike the mayor's "summer of love" in 2007, the story could fade away before the next time the mayor updates his twitter feed.

Facing a projected $530 million shortfall in city revenues, widespread layoffs and furloughs for city workers, including thousands of teachers, cuts in services, and we can't forget the nightmare traffic, there are plenty other affairs on the mind of his constituents.

From the barrio to city hall to prime time telenovela

However we cannot ignore a topic that inevitably comes up: Villaraigosa is the first Hispanic mayor of Los Angeles in more than 100 years and one of the most prominent Latino political figures nationwide.

For many years, he was the model to follow: a kid from the barrio who made it big after years of working in and for the community. Someone to look up to, to inspire and to show the world that the "American Dream" is alive for those who grow up financially poor but rich in culture, family ties and with the tenacity to overcome great obstacles.

Now he is seen by some as the latest poster boy of the stereotypical machista Hispanic male, always on the prowl, whether married or not, obsessed by his looks and willing to risk his family and career in order to follow his overly romantic and uncontrollable instincts.

Others see him as the victim of an insatiable media that unfairly meddles in the personal affairs of politicians, and doesn't miss an opportunity to point out the faults of a Hispanic who made it.

That debate, and the stereotyping of Latinos, has a long history in the United States will continue long after Villaraigosa finally decides to announce, live on TV, if he will run for governor of California. (Coincidentally one of his opponents would be the I-had-an-affair-with-my-married-assistant mayor of San Francisco, Gavin Newsom)

Did you hear about that Jewish governor and the white girl from Jersey?

We should point out that Villaraigosa doesn't need to be perceived as the typical Latino male, but can be viewed through another stereotype: the typical politico.

Because, after all, we do not say: The Irish-American president (Kennedy) who cheated on the first lady with Marilyn Monroe, the Jewish governor of New York (Spitzer) who got caught with a prostitute, the good ol' white boy Senator from Louisiana (Vitter) who used the services of the DC Madam, or the Caucasian southern candidate (Edwards) who may have fathered a child with a filmmaker while his wife battles terminal cancer.

One thing we can say is that Villaraigosa's soon to be ex-wife, Corina Raigosa, has not done the now traditional side by side stand-by-your-cheating-political man press conference, trying to convince us all that "we are staying together as a family and working together to get through this ordeal".

Does that make her a typical, strong and proud, Latina?

2009-06-04 16:12:31

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239 comentarios

Boricuawriter 09:18:25 PM Jun 07 2009

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mr. junior boca, cuando dejes de ser junior avisa para que sepamos que ya tienes la experiencia necesaria para criticar.. mientras tanto regresa a tu tetera y saludos a tu mami.

racings12a 10:28:54 AM Jun 07 2009

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F4thEst, you talk about all Hispanics going into politics end up corrupt, all you have to do is look to the Mexican government or most Central and South American governments. Most of them are corrupt and run by drug cartel money. They try to portray themselves as trying to fight the drug wars while they are at the back door getting their payoffs from the drug cartels. Most Central and South American governments have always been corrupt and have been for centuries.

mnrodriguez770 08:46:22 PM Jun 06 2009

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He is a disgrace and a "Maniaco" who should simply move to Bangkok, Thailand. Thus, he will no longer be an embrassment to the gente/people of Los Angeles.

mbl680 04:45:03 PM Jun 06 2009

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ANOTHER MEXICAN THAT USES THE LITTLE HEAD TO CONTROL THE BIG ONE

ginab605 03:16:00 PM Jun 06 2009

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Origins are irrelevant. The question is honor. Who has it? Your dad, your uncle, your husband? You can recognize it. I hope that our future supreme court justice has it---after all, she is supposedly planning to enter an apolitical post. There is just something about politics and religion and power that produces these sexually-driven personalities. My belief is that those are the people are DRIVEN, and where they end up is at the top, until their not so secret secrets come out. We all know that the Europeans mock us when we get all upset about our philanderers. They seem to accept the politics/power/sex package as a deal that society has always put up with in its leaders, like it or not. The wimps don't seem

F4thEst 02:45:14 PM Jun 06 2009

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Villariagosa IS a typical hispanic male - a self-serving, egotistical, corrupt, stupid pig who happens to be a politician as well. This guy will sell his soul to Obama in hopes of bettering his political career. I am Hispanic and it shames me when I see the likes of this guy, or for that matter the likes of Heny Cisneros. Just about any hispanic in political office is corrupt be it local, state or federal levels. From El Paso, Texas all the way up to the Supreme Court hispanics can't divorce themselves from corruption. Yeah hispanics are a growing minority unfortunately our ranks lack education, ambition and motivation. Until Hispanics better themselves through other means than drugs trafficing we will stay where%2