L.A. Mayor Villaraigosa: I'm not joining Obama cabinet

Despite increased speculation that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may be heading to Washington, he said Monday that he would not be joining President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet.

Villaraigosa said he had a "conversation" with Obama in mid-November about joining the new Democratic administration, but told the incoming president that he would stay in Los Angeles to focus on his reelection campaign and ongoing efforts to address the city's financial troubles and other pressing issues.

"I'm honored and flattered to have been considered for an appointment in the Obama administration," Villaraigosa told The Times on Monday. "I made it clear I love what I do. And I feel that at this moment in my life, this is the job in which I can best serve my city and country."

Bolting to the Obama administration, while potentially beneficial to Villaraigosa's long-term political ambitions, would have created political mayhem in Los Angeles.

Villaraigosa faces no strong opposition in the city's March primary election, and the deadline for mayoral candidates to file has already passed. No other candidates would be allowed to run for mayor unless they were write-ins, according to city election officials.

Aside from Villaraigosa, 21 others have filed to run for mayor and have until Wednesday to gather enough signatures from registered voters in the city to qualify for the March ballot. Four candidates have qualified so far: Villaraigosa; attorney Walter Moore; legal assistant Carlos Alvarez; and union meat packer James Harris.

Moore, who finished sixth in the 2005 mayoral race and is a regular on local talk radio, said he never believed the chitchat that Villaraigosa was destined for a Cabinet post.

"I have more faith in Obama than that," Moore said.

In Washington, presidential transitions often are accompanied by a thicket of political rumors, and speculation that Villaraigosa was a possible Cabinet pick has grown since Obama asked the mayor to join his economic transition team in early November.

A Washington Post article Monday also listed the mayor, a co-chair of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, as one of Obama's possible choices for secretary of Labor or Housing and Urban Development.

Villaraigosa said he and Obama discussed a possible role in the new administration when the president-elect called to offer help during Southern California's wildfires, but that no specific Cabinet positions was discussed. They also had a "very substantive" conversation about the Obama administration's priorities, the mayor said.

The mayor's name continues to surface, in part, because of growing pressure on Obama to appoint an ethnically diverse Cabinet and disappointment by some Latino leaders when he passed over New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson for secretary of State, nominating Sen. Hillary Clinton instead.

"There's a growing angst. But we're still optimistic," said Janet Murguía, president of the National Council of La Raza.

--Phil Willon

Photo: Brent Foster/Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Sherman Tank]

Darn! I suppose this means that this so-called mayor can now continue to plunder L.A. into the depths of gangland--something he promised to clean up. Oops. L.A. is now geared to the lowest common denominator. Call City Hall and TRY to get something accomplished. Impossible. Visit City Hall, take a look at what your tax dollars have bought us and brought us. Garbage. Scandal. Incompetence. Pay offs and hush money. Ever see one of his "press conferences"? Social promotion apparently pays off. Please Obama, help save L.A. send this guy a ticket to D.C. and get him outta here. While you're at it, take the Sanchez sisters with you.

[claude]

too bad...

los angeles, and the state (when he runs for gov) could have been saved from many years of this self aggrandizing publicity addicted do nothing mayor if only obama could persuade him away.