LOCAL ELECTIONS: DOWNEY MUNICIPAL COURT : Candidate’s Illegitimate Son Works to Defeat Father’s Bid

Leo R. Villa, candidate for Downey Municipal Court judge, has taken some hits from an unexpected opponent: a son, born out of wedlock 34 years ago, who has mounted his own campaign to derail Villa’s election bid.

The son, Richard L. Villa, said this week he is angry because his father has seen him only twice and barely acknowledges his existence. He has taken his ire onto the campaign trail, plastering Downey with more than 200 campaign signs that read, “Leo R. Villa’s son says vote no on Villa.”

“How can someone who lacks such morals and compassion toward me judge others?” said the younger Villa, a computer book salesman. “After thinking about it a lot, I decided to go public.”

Los Angeles County Bar Assn. officials say they have never before heard of a child targeting a parent during a judicial campaign.

Leo Villa, a part-time court commissioner, is battling trial lawyer David W. Perkins for the Downey judgeship. Villa, 62, declined to comment on his son’s campaign. But his wife, Jennie, said Villa has no plans to try to stop his son.

Leo Villa’s brother Robert, a campaign worker, said the matter is personal and does not reflect on his brother’s ability to be a judge.

Robert Villa noted that his brother met his legal obligations by paying child support until Richard Villa turned 21.

“It really has nothing to do with whether he’s qualified as a judge or not,” Robert Villa said. “If he didn’t make the child support payments, then fine. (But) he paid.”

Beyond paying child support, Leo Villa was under no obligation to seek out his son, Robert Villa said.

Perkins said he is staying away from the matter of Villa versus Villa. The younger Villa said he called Perkins, told his story and offered to work for his campaign. Perkins declined the offer.

Richard Villa said he plans to continue his campaign--he has 200 more signs ready to post.

About a dozen of Richard Villa’s signs, along with some campaign posters from other candidates, were confiscated because they were posted on public property in violation of a city ordinance, Assistant City Manager Ken Farfsing said.

Richard Villa was born to Valma E. Vose in Orange on Jan. 28, 1956. Leo Villa, then 27, had ended his relationship with her months before, shortly after he found out she was pregnant, said Vose, who now lives in Las Vegas. They had been dating for more than a year, she said.

In 1958, a Superior Court judge officially declared that Villa was Richard’s father and ordered him to pay $60 a month child support.

Leo Villa, then a sheriff’s deputy, married Jennie Villa the next year and raised two children. He became a deputy district attorney in 1966, a job he held until he retired in 1988.

Richard said he remembers seeing his father only once.

Their first meeting was at the 1958 hearing, when Richard was too young to remember. The second meeting was in 1975, when Leo Villa asked a judge to eliminate his child-support payments. Instead, the payments were reduced from $60 to $40 a month, noting that Richard still was attending college, according to court documents.

“I actually walked down to him and shook his hand,” Richard Villa said. “My only words to him have been, ‘Hello. I’m Richard your son,’ and that was it.

“He just shook my hand. There was no response to the best of my recollection.”

Richard Villa acknowledges that years of hurt-turned-anger prompted his campaign. But he maintains the disclosure is relevant to the campaign.

“We all make mistakes, but Leo has never come to have any feelings about what he has done,” Richard Villa said.