Villaraigosa to Denver mayor: Lakers lose, L.A. Times goes

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa today challenged Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper to a rather, uh, interesting tongue-in-cheek bet on the Lakers' playoff series against the Denver Nuggets, which began tonight at Staples Center.

If the Nuggets beat the Lakers, Villaraigosa offered to send the Mile-High City the Los Angeles Times, seeing as Denver’s beloved Rocky Mountain News recently folded.

If the Lakers win, Villaraigosa wants Denver’s “snowpack and a six-pack of the local beer of your choice," the mayor said in a statement. Plus, he said, Denver can have first dibs on the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger  wants to sell to help bail California's state government out of its financial mess.

“You might have heard of it; it’s a historic, 'quaint' property looking for a new owner," Villaraigosa said.

-- Phil Willon

Comments

[Jake]

How about we trade mayors?

[Carol]

Jake--I'm with you!! Villaraigosa is getting camera time at basketball games, and meanwhile, I'm dodging potholes riding my bike around town.

[matthew]

Facepalm.

For those not familiar with the term, it's exactly how it reads.

[Anna Sentari]

Villaraigosa's influence is waning - he ought to keep his ignorance to himself and start thinking about what non-political job he is going to be doing after he is bumped out of politics.

And how's that support for Weiss doing? Can't even muster support for others in an easy mid-year election, his chances on getting support for himself are even less promising.

[Ken P.]

I hope the For Sale sign goes up at the colisseum tomorrow!

[Irv]

Stupendous idea! Lets trade Mayors. And why not a Governor

[Pancho]

I'm as critical of the mayor as the next guy. You can even read an article which I wrote about him, "The Disturbing case of Antonio Villaraigosa." But seriously some of you just hate him because he's Mexican. Others hate him because they're bitter conservatives.

The guy's charismatic and genuinely connected with the common people, and what he said was funny!

The first Mexican governor of California since Pio Pico? Let's do this. You know every Mexican in the state would vote for him if he ran, including myself!

[m]

No one, not one commenter, has said anything about Villaraigosa's ethnicity. So don't even try to play that pathetic card. People are fed up with the do-nothing mayor, always talking, running his mouth and sticking his face in the cameras, rather than actually doing his job.

Our state needs leadership, someone who can actually fix problems, not create them. Villaraigosa has created many more problems in LA than problems he has solved.