If Monday's first post-runoff debate was any indication of the thrilling repartee to come, it's going to be a long, bloody trudge to Election Day.
The KNBC and LABJ accounts of the face-off at CSUN have Jim Hahn and Antonio Villaraigosa hitting each other with the usual claims and charges on schools, cops, traffic and then Hahn wielding what will prove to be an extremely heavy brickbat against the challenger's broken promise to stick it out for 4 years on the Council - trust:
Villaraigosa, a councilman and former Assembly Speaker, repeatedly called Hahn’s administration “the most investigated since Frank Shaw," citing the city’s 1930s-era mayor, who was recalled from office amid charges of corruption. “You’ve never seen my name associated with any scandal,” Villaraigosa said.
Hahn fired back, saying Villaraigosa couldn’t be trusted because he broke his word that he would serve a full term as councilman. “The issue, Mr. Villaraigosa, is the public’s trust of you, that you will serve out your full term and not seek another office,” he said.
Me, I was ferrying my kids home from 2 schools while the whole thing was going on, so if anyone out there heard the debate, feel free to fill us in in COMMENTS below ...
KNBC reports the two went out swinging, too:
In his closing statement, Villaraigosa continued to focus on trust. He said Los Angeles "can't afford four more years of corruption probes and stagnation."
Hahn accused his opponent of failing to earn the public's trust.
"This campaign is about trust -- trusting a mayor who has made this city better, or trusting a candidate who will say one thing to the people in the San Fernando Valley about public safety and another to the people of South Los Angeles," Hahn said. "This is a city on a roll. We've been able to do this together because people care about this city. This election is more than fancy rhetoric, it's about results."
Meanwhile, the Times' blow-by-blow points out that Hahn kept calling his opponent "Antonio" and records this flurry of blows over transit:
When the candidates each got the chance to pose a question, Hahn pounced on Villaraigosa's pledge to build a "world-class transit system" that would extend the subway from North Hollywood to Sylmar.
"We're talking about $300 million a mile to build a subway," Hahn said. "Where can you possibly get the money? Don't you think you need to level with the people?"
Villaraigosa responded by mocking Hahn's efforts to fix traffic at the city's 25 worst intersections. "The question you've got to ask yourself: Is traffic any better in the last four years?" Villaraigosa said. "And I think we all know the answer."
(earlier)
Who the hell scheduled this???
At a time when most of us are winding up the work day or beginning the long slog home through rush-hour traffic, Mayor Jim Hahn and Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa will wade into the first of eight debates.
Hardcore political geeks can blow off work to go watch the hour-long argument live at CSUN beginning at 5 p.m. Devoted junkies with permission to watch TV at that hour can catch it on KNBC-4 or KWHY-22 (Telemundo). Drive-time road-slaves can listen in by tuning their radios to KFWB-AM 980.
And the rest of us can spend the end of the workday imagining the scintillating banter we're missing ("You're a lousy mayor!" "Am not!" "Are too!" "Am not! And you're a Sacramento politician!" "Am not!" "Are too!" etc.) and then wait for the armchair quarterbacking that's bound to follow.
Daily News columnist Mariel Garza officiates.
Posted by: mack_reed on Monday, March 28, 2005 - 09:00 AM
