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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Villaraigosa Tries Again to Shift Focus
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa poses with his wife Corina prior to an event in Hollywood, California, November 2005. Villaraigosa is in the full glare of the media feeding frenzy, as he confessed that he had been unfaithful to Corina, his wife of 20 years, who filed for divorce last month.
Rick Orlov over at the Los Angeles Daily News discusses the attempt of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to shift the focus away from the Mirthala Salinas, Universal City Development and Univision scandals and back to his accomplishments in office.
Swamped in controversy over his personal life, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has been frustrated in his attempts to shift attention back to his accomplishments during his first two years in office.
So, like any good salesman, he is sending his troops on the road to try to get the message out, as well as gather feedback on what community leaders would like to see.
Deputy Mayor Larry Frank, the affable liaison to neighborhood councils, has been meeting with various leaders in quasi-focus groups, accompanied by department heads from city agencies including Transportation, Environmental Affairs and Public Works.
The Mayor has an uphill fight.
Everyone is waiting for the NBC Telemundo decision on the fate of his girl friend, Mirthala Salinas.
And his soon to be ex-wife, Corina Villaraigosa, is doing events and seemingly enjoys putting the knife into his back and twisting.
In the meantime, rumors abound about former Mayor James Hahn looking at challenging Villaraigosa in two years. Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yarolslavsky is also looking at the race.
Stay tuned……..
City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa is interviewed by reporter Mirthala Salinas of Telemundo at Factor’s Famous Deli on May 19, 2005 in Los Angeles
Previous:
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: NBC Telemundo Expected to Announce Results This Week
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Corina Villaraigosa Speaks About Commitment
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Telemundo Ethics Probe of Mirthala Salinas Completed
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mayor Heckled at Transportation Meeting
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Scandal Plagued Mayor Allows Governor to Cut LA Rail Transit Funds
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: NBC Universal Development Surrounds Villaraigosa – Salinas Scandal
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Villaraigosa on WHOSE Side?
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Will Telemundo Decide Mirthala’s Fate Today?
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mayor Denies Affair With Anita Moreno #2
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mayor Denies Affair With LAPD Officer Anita Moreno
And a print rendering of this original cartoon by Patrick O’Connor of the Los Angeles Daily News can be purchased by clicking the link here.
Technorati Tags: Antonio Villaraigosa, Mirthala Salinas, TelemundoUnivision James Hahn, Zev Yaroslavsky
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Antonio Villaraigosa, California, Fabian Nunez, KNBC, Los Angeles, Mirthala Salinas, Telemundo, Univision
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: NBC Universal Development Surrounds Villaraigosa – Salinas Scandal
Mayor Villaraigosa was at Universal CityWalk Wednesday for the grand opening of the 1,000th Panda Inn restaurant.
Remember Flap stated weeks ago that the Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa – NBC/Telemundo affair scandal disclosure was the tip of the iceberg.
Well, yesterday we find out that the Mayor has been fed questions for a supposed impromptu television interview program on Spanish language Telemundo competitor, Univision.
And today the Los Angeles Times exposes the interwoven web of the Mayor, Mirthala, and a massive NBC/Universal Development Project over which the Mayor has government purview.
Finally, an investigative story by the Los Angeles Times on this scandal.
Ok, here we go…….
Affair, NBC project cross paths
A $3-billion Universal City development is getting new scrutiny as Telemundo officials undertake a review of the mayor’s girlfriend
The extramarital affair between Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and a newscaster for Telemundo has created a new set of complications for the broadcaster’s corporate parent, NBC Universal — and possibly the mayor himself.
Even as its Spanish-language subsidiary is poised to decide the future of Mirthala Salinas, the now-suspended reporter who embarked on a romantic relationship with Villaraigosa while she reported on him, NBC Universal is proceeding with a massive $3-billion development plan that city officials must ultimately approve.
Although Telemundo executives hold the key to the career of Salinas, now the subject of an internal investigation into whether she compromised the company’s journalistic mission, Villaraigosa holds his own considerable power over NBC Universal. The entertainment conglomerate will very likely need Villaraigosa’s help to navigate the city’s approval process as it spends the next year pushing its Universal City Vision Plan, a concept the mayor embraced seven months ago.
Remember Telemundo Channel 52 political reporter Mirthala Salinas, the Mayor’s girl friend, has been on paid leave since July 5 due to an ethics investigation. Remember Mirthala announced the Mayor’s divorce “on air” while she knew that she was the “other woman” involved in the break-up.
Also, Salinas had been involved with other politicians ( City Council President and now California State Senator Alex Padilla and Speaker of the California Assembly Fabian Nunez) while a political reporter.
The Mayor on Monday stated that he had not been contacted by NBC Universal in the investigation.
Also, for background, NBC Universal and specifically KNBC television has fired an employee, reporter, Kyung Lah, when it was discovered she was having an affair in the workplace. And who was the station general manager at the time?
Paula Madison
Manuel Abud VP/GM KVEA-TV/Telemundo & Paula Madison former
General Manager KNBC-TV Los AngelesFrom Eric Longabardi
Sources inside NBC/Universal confirm to ERSNews that Paula Madison, former General Manager of KNBC-TV and now head of diversity for NBC/Universal had the authority and was in fact the person who was responsible for removing Salinas from the political reporting beat due to her personal relationship with the Mayor. ERSNews sought direct comment from Ms. Madison about her role in the case, but was referred to NBC/Telemundo spokesman Victor Franco, who declined comment, saying only that the internal investigation of the matter was nearing completion and they withhold any comment until it was complete. Asked by ERSNew.com when that would be, spokesman Franco would only say “soonâ€.
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has expressed support for NBC Universal’s plans, which call for a hotel, homes and offices.
So, now, we understand the delay by NBC Universal in disposing of Mirthala Salinas. They are damned if they fire her and they are damned if they keep her. But, whatever they do, this scandal is not over.
Why?
Because of the massive Universal City Vision Plan which the Mayor supports, local residents oppose and which other politicians including Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Los Angeles City Councilman Tom LaBonge consider too large.
“The councilman is opposed to the project as proposed,” said Renee Weitzer, chief of staff to LaBonge, who is out of the country and could not be reached. “We feel it’s too dense. It’s too big, and the site is too small.”
Flap smells a Los Angeles County Grand Jury investigation here and an emergence of other politicians to rival Villaraigosa for the Mayorship in two years. How do you spell former Mayor Jimmy Hahn?
Mayor Villar better hope Mirthala Salinas keeps some sort of work.
He may need HER support in the future.
Previous:Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Villaraigosa on WHOSE Side?
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Will Telemundo Decide Mirthala’s Fate Today?
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mayor Denies Affair With Anita Moreno #2
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mayor Denies Affair With LAPD Officer Anita Moreno
And a print rendering of this original cartoon by Patrick O’Connor of the Los Angeles Daily News can be purchased by clicking the link here.
Technorati Tags: Antonio Villaraigosa, Mirthala Salinas, TelemundoUnivision
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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Villaraigosa on WHOSE Side?
*****Update*****
KFI’s Eric Leonard has picked up on the story and have the e-mails as well. The story is being broadcast on the 3 PM news.
The Mayor denied in an interview Wednesday that he was fed specific questions and answers written out ahead of time.
E-mails obtained by KFI NEWS reveal news producers at KMEX channel 34 pre-arranged interview questions with L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s office for a regular in-studio segment called, “Villaraigosa A Su Lado” (rough translation: “Villaraigosa on your side.”).
The interview — which is presented as a spontaneous exchange between news anchors and the mayor — aired regularly before news of the mayor’s affair with KVEA reporter Mirthala Salinas became public.
“From time to time I think a number of you [reporters] will give the general thrust of a question,” Villaraigosa explained Wednesday.
But what about specific questions and answers written out ahead of time?
“No,” the mayor said.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa praises Telemundo reporter and girl friend Mirthala Salinas at a news conference in the mid-city area Monday, July 23, 2007.
Eric Longabardi has a blockbuster of a post about which Flap alluded yesterday.
Actually, Eric Leonard of KFI mentioned the FLAP first. And what is the FLAP, you ask?
ERSNews has exclusively obtained e-mails documenting that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was receiving written questions in advance, sometimes days in advance, before television interviews that were conducted on the Univision Los Angeles based television station KMEX-TV34. The questions were then asked during on-air interviews conducted by the stations in-studio anchors for a segment known as “Villaraigosa a su lado”, which translates from Spanish as “Villaraigosa on your side”.
The so-called broadcast “interviews” were conducted regularly on Wednesdays each week in 2006 and through mid-2007.
A breach of journalistic ethics?
You betcha……..
Even USC Journalism Professor Joe Saltzman (whose Mass Communications class at USC Flap often sat in) called the Univision conduct: “very very poor judgment.”
On Monday, the Mayor at a new conference on traffic praised his girl friend and Telemundo political reporter (even though she on numerous occasions dated politicians with whom she covered as a reporter and announced “on air” the Mayor’s divorce while she was the “other woman.”):
“I continue to have the utmost respect and confidence in the journalistic abilities and the high ethical standards of Mirthala Salinas,†the mayor said.
“I can tell you that I believe that if this investigation addresses all of the issues here, including the fact that she made it absolutely clear the extent of the relationship that we have, that I expect she’ll be vindicated.â€
Birds of a feather – flock together.
The questions sent to the Mayor were represented to the public as impromptu-unscripted questions. ERSNews had uncovered they were anything but that. The topics ran the gamut of issues concerning Villaraigosa’s job as LA’s mayor.
ERSNews has learned that the questions were provided to the Mayor in advance via a direct link. That link was the Mayor’s Deputy press secretary Diana Rubio. Rubio was working directly with the Executive Producer of Univision and others at KMEX, including at the time the station’s Vice President of News. Other news staff was well aware of the communications and the intertwined relationship the station had developed with the Mayor’s office. According to sources familiar with the situation, the mayor’s office exerted extensive influence and sway in insuring the Mayor was not put in any light other than a favorable one, something Univision accommodated routinely.
Eric has the e-mail evidence:
Now, how will Univision respond?
And will this story affect NBC/Telemundo’s decision on Mirthala Salinas – that is due at anytime?
Stay tuned…….
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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Will Telemundo Decide Mirthala’s Fate Today?
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mayor Denies Affair With Anita Moreno #2
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Watch: Mayor Denies Affair With LAPD Officer Anita Moreno
Technorati Tags: Antonio Villaraigosa, Mirthala Salinas, TelemundoUnivision