Villaraigosa Backs Huizar for Council

Los Angeles City Council candidate Jose Huizar won the endorsement of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Monday, an advantage that helps position Huizar as the front-runner in this fall’s election for the vacant 14th District seat.

The announcement, which had been expected for weeks, came the same day that Huizar, a Los Angeles Unified School District board member, reported that he had raised $160,897 through the end of June.

Huizar’s best-known opponent in the race, former Councilman Nick Pacheco, has raised $79,734. The Nov. 8 contest has drawn 17 hopefuls, but reports were unavailable for the other candidates. The 14th District stretches from Eagle Rock to south of Boyle Heights.

Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-East Los Angeles), City Controller Laura Chick and former Mayor Richard Riordan joined Villaraigosa in endorsing Huizar at the Pueblo del Sol Community Center in East Los Angeles.

“As we begin a new era with greater city involvement in reforming the school district, Jose Huizar’s expertise on school reform and governance will be a great asset,� Villaraigosa said. “The bottom line is that in my new job as mayor, I want to work with the council as a team and I need Jose Huizar on my team.�

Underscoring the importance of Villaraigosa’s support, Huizar’s campaign mistakenly sent an e-mail to the media that said that the news release would quote only the mayor, not the other politicians, because “that’s what we want printed.�

The endorsement wasn’t a surprise given the district’s recent political history. In 2003, Pacheco was easily defeated by Villaraigosa.

When Villaraigosa won the mayor’s race in May, Pacheco and Huizar swiftly announced that they were running for his council seat. Since then, Huizar has largely ignored Pacheco, instead using his perch on the school board to remind voters that he holds public office.

Pacheco, an attorney, has repeatedly reminded voters of the school district’s failings.

“Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s endorsement is not going to erase the fact that former school board President Jose Huizar is responsible for 61% of Latinos dropping out, racial tension in our schools and overspending his 2003-2004 budget by a quarter of a billion dollars,� Pacheco said Monday.

Pacheco appeared before the council last week to complain that Villaraigosa’s former council staff was working with Huizar’s school board staff to promote Huizar’s candidacy, although he offered no proof.

Huizar, an attorney, said Monday that he was not too worried about Pacheco. “A lot more endorsements are going to be rolled out in the next few weeks from the council, from the state Assembly,� he said. “These are people that are sending a strong message: We want to work with Jose Huizar, we worked with him on the school board.�

In the other race to fill an open seat on the council -- the 10th District in the Mid-City area -- former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson was the only one of 12 candidates to file a fundraising report. He said he had raised $72,300 through June 30.