KTLA says Lu Parker's departure from anchoring not related to her relationship with Villaraigosa

KTLA officials said that moving Lu Parker from weekend anchor duties to reporting has nothing to do with her relationship with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. But The Times' Greg Braxton notices a trend:

Local television news anchors should beware: Dating Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa may have its perks, but career advancement is not one of them.

Lu Parker, a KTLA weekend anchor and general assignment reporter who has been dating Villaraigosa since March, has left the anchor desk. Parker will report for the station, which is expanding its 6:30 p.m. newscast by a half hour starting Monday.

The apparent demotion marks the second time that a newscaster involved with Villaraigosa has departed the anchor desk. KVEA-TV Channel 52 reporter and anchor Mirthala Salinas, who was involved in an extramarital affair with the mayor in 2007 while she was covering him, was suspended for two months then reassigned to the station's Riverside bureau when their relationship became public.

Read the full story here.

Photo credit: KTLA

Comments

[DRE DAWG]

If Villar still isn't divorced, then this ain't dating. It's yet another extramarital affair for this man and Lu gets to be yet another "Other Woman".

Girl, I hope you really love him no matter what, because with conflics of interest abounding, no station is going to want you on their reporting team. Is it really worth this man with a career that will die as soon as his last term as Mayor is over, who has two ex-wives (did he marry the first one?), and 4 children, 2 of whom are still under 18?

Run, Chica! Run!!!

[Rosee]

Guess she thought she was special!

Isn't our Mayor married?

[Rick Kern]

Does this guy have a news anchor fantasy/fetish or what? Good grief!

[jtbwriter]

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..... KTLA should just be professional and state that its "journalists" have to obey a certain code of conduct/ethics and either report the news or "be" the news-not both. Then again this is the station that ballyhooded the hiring by KNBC of "anchor slut" Alycia and questioned
her reputation and/or journalistic cred.

[dee]

Sick, sick sick

[Mike]

He just wanted to be mayor of LA because it's close to Hollywood, lol.

[West Valley Dave]

Attention Los Angeles News Directors:

If you want to fire or reassign any of your female reporters or anchors all you need to do is get them to date the Alcalde!

[Tom]

at least we only have to put up with one term for this clown and our president.....we elected them people and we should be ashamed of ourselves

[Stephen]

Mayor VillaLaRaza isn't qualified to hold office. A UCLA grad that ran with gang members and commies on campus. As a law school grad, he's failed the bar 4 times! He has no class and isn't good for LA. Why is this loser still in office?

[Julio Childers]

Leave the man alone, women go to him because of power. If he was a regular eastsider no woman would be interested in him. What kind of country do we live in where a man cannot find good sex especially with younger women. Since when are mayors religious figures?

And these women are not innocent, they knew what sack they were jumping into. And if Lu is being chastised by her bosses for her private life then maybe she should fight back this demotion. I would be more offended if Antonio was hooking up with a guy, then that would be disgusting.

Hit them Antonio because once you die, there is no more sex in heaven.

[B T]

Is an affair with Mayor Villaraigosa the Kiss of Death?

[Yanni Raz]

I think you should give this man a break. He meet news reporters while Joe across the street meet Office secretary or a waitress. He is still a man, not sure if he is married(I hope not) and wish him the best of luck.
He create his own future and so far I think he did a good job(He is Los Angeles Mayor).

[D]

I am glad she is moving. I can't stand him; and seeing her as I flipped through the channels made me keep surfing. Now, I might stop and watch.

The mayor must have someting going on though; why else would a second anchor, knowing what happened to the first, hook up with him.

After he is done with mayoring he can become a guru on how to pick up ladies.

[riprydah]

This guy is a complete d-bag. He inspires no one and is not someone anyone can look up to. He has no class. I can't believe he represents our city. He's just a bumbling idiot who spews nothing but cliches and garbage.

[can]

Ah ha ha Girl.
He just ain't that great.

,,,

[frank]

Hey Tom, what "THEM PEOPLE" are you referring to??? I hope Them People don't mean Black or latino? Becuase if that's what you mean why don't you move your ASS to the south where you belong...

[markiejoe]

I don't think it's the affair itself that caused here demotion as much as it was the concealing of the affair from management.

[Lana]

It doesn't matter if he's married or not; this demontion should not be about the Major. This should be about Ms. Parker's job performance. If I were her, I would sue for discrimination. What conflict of interest is it to read a story about your boyfriend, it's not like she's all giddy and lovely dovey about her stories regarding him. She's not a news writer so whats the big deal KTLA.

[diane]

She should move on and find a different career; she is not that good as a news reporter. As far as the mayor goes, he is useless and does nothing for the SFV. Maybe he is going through his second childhood with women.

[sallie]

I don't think she was demoted because of the affair either. I think she was demoted for gross stupidity. Seeing what happened to the first anchor who got involved with the mayor on the sly, this one proceeds to walk down the same path. Sheer stupidity. Can't be an on-camera anchor if you're stupid.

[Ricardo Guerra]

Everyone loves a womanizer! I have no pitty for the girl especially if she knew he was married. She is those kind of girls that like to share!

[Devils Advocate]

Our Mayor is a dumbass; he can not even pass the bar.
Bring back Richard Riorden. Supposedly, Riorden was the one who brought in all the new development going on in downtown L.A. But as anyone in urban development would know, the process is time consuming and cumbersome.

[howardx]

"Can't be an on-camera anchor if you're stupid."

rick garcia
pat harvey
sharon tay
emmit miller
phillip palmer

beg to differ

[Nick Nastroazzurro]

Why women like weird guys?!

[Ed Wood]

Well she can always move to Sacramento and be a lobbyist for overweight republican 'family values' legislators. She sure has the experience needed for the 'position'