L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa: The Next U.S. Secretary of Transportation?

Last Wednesday when Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa delivered his state of the city address he largely avoided the main topic facing the city: the budget. That came on Friday in the unveiling of his budget, which included a proposal with significant layoffs.

The mayor's speech focused on transportation, and what may be his key achievement, the passage of Measure R. That measure, passed in 2008, includes a temporary half-cent sales tax slated to expire in 2039. It pays for transportation infrastructure throughout Los Angeles County. The tax, for instance, pays the construction and expansion of the region's rail system and maintenance of the highways. All of that work creates over 400,000 new jobs.

Now the mayor is pushing to eliminate the sunset provision of Measure R. That would make the tax increase permanent.

Beyond Measure R, the mayor also focused on America Fast Forward, a bill that would create a loan program from the federal government to local entities and agencies constructing roads and rails. The plan is in the transportation bills awaiting passage in the House and the Senate.

Finish reading this post on KCET.org. 

"Legal Defense Funds: An Ethical Dilemma?"

Jessica Levinson's latest post on KCET.org is here.

Here is an excerpt:

"[Villaraigosa] committed ethical violations and then he raised private funds to cover the costs of those violations. In essence the mayor's initial failure to disclose free tickets given to him -- very likely in attempt to curry favor with him -- has provided the mayor with yet another fundraising opportunity, and hence another crop of donors perhaps trying to curry their own favor with our city's chief executive."

Jessica Levinson to appear on the local fox news regarding Mayor Villaraigosa's Ethics Violations

The program will air at 10pm PDT on the channel 11 local news.

You can also likely watch the clip by clicking here.

"Pay fines without any pain"

"If a politician gets caught breaking the rules on the job, he or she can open a 'legal defense fund,' collect cash from supporters and special interests and pay the fine, without losing a dime."

Jessica Levinson is quoted:

But just because it's legal doesn't mean the rules make sense, said Jessica Levinson ... "You've committed an ethics violation, now you go and raise money for your legal defense fund from presumably the same people involved in your ethics violation," Levinson said. "It's a very imperfect system." 


The Daily News has more.

"Why L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa Is in Hot, Or at Least Lukewarm, Water Over Ethics Violations"

Jessica Levinson has this piece in the Huffington Post.

"Mayor Villaraigosa To Pay Fines For Accepting Free Tickets"

Jessica Levinson appeared on the Los Angeles local news, myFoxLA, to comment on the story.

"L.A. mayor to pay fines for accepting free tickets to pricey events"

The LAT has more.

Jessica Levinson on KNX re Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a new NFL stadium in Los Angeles

You can click here to listen at 8:40am PST.

You can read more about the topic here.