No Shame, No Sense in ‘I See White People’ Political Attack

Antonio Villaraigosa, who is under attack for hanging out with too many white people, was seen in a downtown Los Angeles restaurant Wednesday night with yet another paleface -- me.

My father’s parents are from Spain, so some people might count me as Hispanic. But I guess I look pretty white, and Villaraigosa is being called a traitor to his people for hanging out with too many Caucasians.

The former Assembly speaker and mayoral candidate has been bludgeoned in two fliers since he decided to run against Nick Pacheco in the 14th City Council District. One goes after him for listening to “the white puppets pulling his strings,” referring to them as his “consultantes gringos.”

And that’s the highbrow stuff. Villaraigosa, who has admitted past infidelity, is savaged in the mailers, which were sent out by Pacheco supporter Ricardo Torres.

“Will you allow the 14th Council District to become another one of Antonio Villaraigosa’s one-night stands?” asks a flier.

Torres has backed off for now. But I’m hoping a third mailer goes out soon, so I can mount a drive to add dirty campaign tricks to the three-strikes law. Life in the slam might be the only way to protect society from habitual political hacks.

Torres, in a bottom-feeding expedition that explored new depths, even went after Villaraigosa’s family.

His father took a hit.

His eldest daughter took a hit.

The family pets are running for cover.

“We had a family meeting Monday to talk about it,” Villaraigosa said of his wife and six children.

His wife is stricken, Villaraigosa said. But his eldest daughter is taking it even harder, and she spoke up at the gathering.

“Dad, it’s not worth it,” she said.

That daughter, who was attacked in one flier for having been a teenage mother, is married to the father of that child, owns a house, and is doing quite well by her father’s accounting.

“I’m very proud of her,” Villaraigosa said, his eyes narrowing. He expected to get roughed up, he said. But his family?

“This is more personal, vitriolic, and venomous than I expected.”

And it may get worse. Villaraigosa said he’s received phone messages warning that in the next round, he’s going to be accused of “a serious crime.”

Another alleged paramour? Something from his wild years on the streets of East L.A.?

He won’t repeat the telephone threat, but says the charge is hogwash.

I called Nick Pacheco to see if he might know about it, but he didn’t call back. I guess if your people are accusing an opponent of chatting with gringos, it’s best not to commit the same crime, even by telephone.

Pacheco has said he wanted his buddy Torres to stop the mailers, and he encouraged Villaraigosa to press for legal action. “Unfortunately,” Pacheco added, “when you send out facts, it’s tough to mount a legal challenge.”

Facts, indeed, can bite you where it hurts. Take the time last year when Pacheco suffered the humiliation of having to shut down his nonprofit organization amid allegations that he was squeezing City Hall lobbyists to contribute to it.

Pacheco denied any wrongdoing and no charges have been filed.

But that very nonprofit figured in a plot to torpedo Villaraigosa’s mayoral campaign, a plot in which Villaraigosa was bushwhacked in telephone calls by a woman impersonating Supervisor Gloria Molina.

This gave me an idea. Maybe I could call Pacheco again, and get through this time by impersonating Henry Lozano, Xavier Becerra or one of the other toads in that cabal.

“They have this political strategy of playing the Boy Scout on top, but under the table, being more ruthless than anyone,” says David Ayon, a political analyst at Loyola Marymount.

So maybe that’s the way to do it. Beat them at their own game.

I worked on the voices, trying to get the gringo out of me, but unfortunately Pacheco’s office was closed when I called back.

Too bad. I also wanted to ask Pacheco a strategy question.

The 14th District includes Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, and Mt. Washington, and if I remember correctly, I’ve seen white people on the streets in those places. So I’m not sure how smart it is to suggest that by virtue of his association with Gov. Davis and other white people, Villaraigosa has alienated “our community.”

Besides, the Latino community has been a sleeping giant in this city for too many decades. It’s been sneered at, belittled, discriminated against.

Now that it’s on the verge of grabbing its fair share of power, does it want its mudslinging leaders to mug its brightest representatives, blow a chance to air real issues, and commit the same acts of bigotry that have kept it down for more than a century?

Antonio Villaraigosa is flawed, no doubt. I don’t know many people who aren’t. But these attacks might only strengthen him.

On the subject of ancestry, he said: “I’m proud of who I am. But it’s not all that I’m about.”

Even so, I sat with my back to the restaurant entrance and tossed out a few words in Spanish when anyone approached. Wouldn’t want anyone to think he was with another of his consultantes gringos.

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Steve Lopez writes Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at steve.lopez@latimes. com.