Mayor Takes Wish List to Hill

When Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa visited the nation’s capital shortly after being elected in May, he was treated like a rock star. On Wednesday, he was back on Capitol Hill, but in a more modest role.

“I’m a supplicant,” he said. “I’m here to ask for funding.”

The new mayor, who took office July 1, may be a comer on the national political scene, but the first of his two days in Washington was tightly focused on issues that matter to Angelenos: traffic and public safety.

Villaraigosa went to Washington looking to maintain threatened homeland security funds for Los Angeles. And he made the case for a carpool lane project on the San Diego Freeway.

Fulfilling a campaign promise to employ his charm on the holders of the federal government’s purse strings, the mayor met with numerous congressional leaders, mostly in private, giving the day a workmanlike air that contrasted with his June visit. During that trip, he received standing ovations at a national conference for Democratic activists and signed copies of a Newsweek magazine cover with his image and the headline “Latino Power.”

Villaraigosa had lunch with California’s Democratic congressional delegation and met separately with California power players, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) and Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. He also consulted with lawmakers who have little name recognition in California but have considerable influence over federal spending priorities.

Democrats said the mayor was making a strong impression in Washington, even when the meetings were little more than informal chats and backslapping “attaboys.”

“He’s doing a spectacular job,” said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who caught the end of Villaraigosa’s lunch. “It’s a little too early for him to have brought policy changes to a conclusion, but he’s doing the right thing.”

At $400 million, a project like the 405 carpool lane may be a footnote in the massive federal budget, but it is important for Villaraigosa politically. If funding is approved, construction could begin in three to four years, while he is in office. Some of Villaraigosa’s grander transportation plans, such as expanded subway lines, may not come to fruition until he has left City Hall.

The carpool lane, which would extend north through the Sepulveda Pass, has long been a pet project of Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Valley Village). He is trying to secure $100 million in matching funds from the state and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But the idea is competing for federal funds with projects across the nation as Congress bangs out a massive transportation reauthorization bill.

Berman seemed happy to introduce L.A.’s new mayor to the debate and put some star power behind the effort.

After a brief meeting, the pair marched to the office of Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), the senior Democrat on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, to make their case. A small scrum of Los Angeles journalists and TV cameras followed.

Berman said Villaraigosa would help show that the carpool lane has a regional effect and “isn’t just a parochial interest.”

The mayor said he was happy to do his part.

“Look,” he said, Berman “has spearheaded this effort. The least the city can do is support it.”

In other meetings, Villaraigosa argued that Los Angeles and other big cities were in danger of losing out under proposed funding formulas for federal spending on homeland security.

The mayor opposes legislation by Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) that would cut back on homeland security funds for high-risk areas, including Los Angeles.

Mayoral spokesman Joe Ramallo said major urban areas are prime targets that deserve increased funding. The proposed cuts would have a “very substantial” effect on Los Angeles, he said.

Villaraigosa also visited a few Republicans. In the afternoon, he met with Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama. Any big-city mayor looking for money would want a relationship with Shelby, because he sits on the powerful Appropriations Committee and is chairman of the committee that deals with housing and urban affairs.

But Los Angeles is also important to Alabama: the MTA imported 996 buses assembled there.

The mayor planned to talk about an L.A. export with Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.). Wolf’s northern Virginia district has been overrun with gang activity in the last couple of years, including gangs with roots in Los Angeles, such as Mara Salvatrucha.

Wolf has proposed a $60-million anti-gang initiative that has been approved by the House. Villaraigosa backs the bill.

The mayor’s itinerary for today includes visits with Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta, and Marion C. Blakey, head of the Federal Aviation Administration.

He plans to talk to Mineta and Blakey about the $11-billion plan to modernize Los Angeles International Airport, which the FAA recently approved.

Villaraigosa opposes many of the most expensive and controversial aspects of the plan, including a passenger check-in center near the 405 Freeway.