Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Villaraigosa
Antonio Ramón Villaraigosais an American politician who served as the 41st Mayor of Los Angeles, California. Prior to being elected Mayor, he was a member of the California State Assembly, the Democratic leader of the Assembly, and the Speaker of the California State Assembly. After being termed out of the State Assembly, he was elected to the Los Angeles City Counciland served until he was elected Mayor...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth23 January 1953
CityCity Terrace, CA
CountryUnited States of America
So laying people off is not something I do lightly, it's not something I relish.
Again, if I was going to call Romney and the Republicans stupid, I'm certainly not going to call the Democrats and President Obama stupid.
We in Los Angeles, who have ourselves been helped to stand up - to recover and rebuild after a disaster - want to help the families and communities of the Gulf Coast,.
Look, you're not going to get me to say that Democrats don't make mistakes. We do. I mentioned two areas - pension reform and seniority and tenure. I've done both - I've advocated for both. I've advocated for - seek for reform as well.
I don't want to describe either Governor Mitt Romney or the Republicans as stupid, but I will say this - if you look at their platform, the 2012 platform, it looks like it's from another century and maybe even two. It looks like the platform of 1812.
But I will say, I think there are some Democrats that don't want to address pension reform. I have taken on the issue of seniority and tenure. I think we have to address entitlements and the president has done that in his budget. I think we have to extend Medicare and the president has done that. But also reinvest in that program.
Actually, as president of the Conference of Mayors, we passed the Simpson-Bowles plan as a template, as a template, as a frame work for moving forward and the president has done the same.
You can't just trot out a brown face or a Spanish surname and expect people are going to vote for your party or your candidate.
We're not a homogeneous party, anymore than the Republicans are. But we are a party that I think has a plan to take us forward.
Let me be clear - no one is above the law. Not a politician, not a priest, not a criminal, not a police officer. We are all accountable for our actions.
I got to grow up with a mother who taught me to believe in me.
We're smoothing over Los Angeles one pothole at a time,