Mayor Hangs Tough Amid Dissent

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has spent much of his first six months in office sharing his soaring dreams for Los Angeles. But last week, his struggles with some of the down-to-earth details of running the city created new tensions -- and even a few new enemies.

On Thursday, Villaraigosa incurred the wrath of half of the city’s animal services employees, who denounced the mayor’s firing of their boss as capitulation to “terrorists” -- animal rights activists who have targeted city workers with vandalism, picketing and threats.

Earlier in the week, Villaraigosa angered city employee unions, including one that has repeatedly threatened to strike, by standing firm against awarding them the same lucrative contract given to employees of the Department of Water and Power, which the City Council approved on the mayor’s watch.

And though Villaraigosa won confirmation of an American Civil Liberties Union director to a regional homeless services commission, five Los Angeles City Council members -- one-third of the panel -- voted against the mayor’s appointee.

Dissent is inevitable for any big-city chief executive, even one who campaigned with the promise to be “mayor for everyone.” Less clear is what these new frictions mean for Villaraigosa’s future and his ambitious plans for the city.

Joel Kotkin, an expert on Los Angeles politics and an Irvine senior fellow with the New America Foundation, said the mayor’s recent difficulties were expected fallout from his overblown campaign promises. And Kotkin predicted this was just the beginning.

“Because he has promised everything to everybody, he is going to continue to make enemies,” Kotkin said. “He is alienating a lot of people.”

But to Nick Patsaouras, a friend of the mayor and the head of the DWP board, last week’s flare-ups demonstrated that Villaraigosa is a brave politician, who does not bend easily to pressure.

“I think what we are seeing here is not a politician, but a leader,” Patsaouras said. “He’s making tough decisions ... I think he’s drawing a line in the sand, and saying, ‘I’m going to make decisions that are tough, and I’m going to deal with it.’ ”

Patsaouras also said he believed Villaraigosa’s relentless visits to community events would help him weather the occasional clashes. “The people at the end of the day govern,” he said. “If he has the people around him, the rest will fall into place.”

Villaraigosa, for his part, seemed to take the discord in stride.

“I think what you’ll see, in a job like this, there’s always going to be a crisis, always going to be someone that disagrees with your decisions,” he said at a news conference Friday. “It’s the ebb and flow of being a mayor of a big city.”

The aggrieved parties are small in number, almost insignificant in a city of 3.9 million. But if Villaraigosa’s spats with city workers grow into sustained battles with organized labor -- and if a few dissenting voices on the council grow into cantankerous opposition -- it could cause trouble as he looks for support on bigger projects, from his upcoming budget proposal to his planned takeover of the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Villaraigosa’s background is as an organizer for the city teachers union, and he still considers himself a friend of unions. But he has said that as an executive, he is responsible for ensuring that the city’s finances are in order. He has also said he was worried about a projected $248-million deficit in the city budget.

The mayor did not oppose the council’s decision in September to approve a contract with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 18, that granted raises to DWP employees of at least 19% and up to 31% over five years.

The contract, he noted, was negotiated before he became mayor.

Now he is refusing to extend the same terms to the 8,000 members of the city Engineers and Architects Assn., even though its employees, in many cases, do the same jobs as electrical union workers at the DWP.

The engineers union, which has threatened to strike, has launched a number of job actions intended to embarrass the mayor.

Last week, Villaraigosa told managers at the DWP that they probably would not get the same salary increases won by their subordinates.

“Right now, the best you could describe the mayor’s relationship with city unions is strained,” said Robert Aquino, head of the engineers union. “That’s a problem, because he needs everybody on the team to be pulling together in the same direction.”

Instead, the city employees active in unions are putting the mayor on the spot. This week, when the mayor follows the tradition of handing out goodies to the children of city employees, the children of engineers union members will be in line to ask the mayor for “equal pay for equal work,” Aquino said.

The mayor has also sparred verbally with the powerful local teachers union leaders, who oppose his plan to seize control of the school district.

So how often can friends do battle and still be friends?

When it comes to the unions, the question is an important one for any Los Angeles politician. Although most union locals backed incumbent James K. Hahn in the election, many of the rank-and-file union members supported Villaraigosa. The unions remain a powerful force in Los Angeles politics, with deep pockets and an ability to turn out the vote.

City Councilman Tom LaBonge, like Villaraigosa, is concerned about showering the unions with raises the city can’t afford. But he also said Villaraigosa could run serious risks if he crosses the unions too many times.

“You’ve always got to remember your base,” said LaBonge, who supported Hahn in the last election. “If you move too far from your base, you might find yourself out in the street.”

Patsaouras, however, said it is important for Villaraigosa to hold the line on pay raises now. He said that if the mayor shows fiscal discipline with the city’s budget, he might be able to persuade skeptical voters to vote for tax increases or bond issues to fund big projects, such as subways or subsidized housing.

If he caves in to the engineers union, Patsaouras said, other public employee unions will see the mayor as “red meat” and demand the same deal.

When Villaraigosa last week fired Guerdon Stuckey from his post as head of the Animal Services Department, he engendered even more grief with labor.

Among those angered was Julie Butcher, who heads a union that represents 10,000 blue-collar city workers, including animal services employees. On Thursday, 149 of those workers sent a letter to Villaraigosa, complaining that he was giving in to animal rights extremists.

During the mayoral campaign, Villaraigosa pledged to oust Stuckey and animal rights activists subsequently pressured him to keep his promise.

But on Friday, Butcher gave Villaraigosa high marks for appearing at a news conference where the city attorney announced the filing of misdemeanor charges against a group of animal rights activists who have allegedly engaged in the harassment of city workers.

In the long run, she said, the city’s union workers will cut Villaraigosa some slack because of their common background.

“Folks will give him a lot of room,” she predicted.

Observers say Villaraigosa’s relationship with the City Council also remains warm. But the rift over his appointment of a civil libertarian to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority board shows that council members have not been cowed into rubber-stamping the popular mayor’s every move.

Five council members opposed the appointment of Ramona Ripston, the executive director of the regional ACLU branch. That level of dissent for a mayoral appointment is rare.

The council members who voted no -- Bernard C. Parks, Greig Smith, Jan Perry, Dennis Zine and Janice Hahn -- were worried that Ripston would thwart the city’s efforts to clean up skid row. The ACLU has sued the city to block efforts to prevent the homeless from sleeping on sidewalks.

Smith, who endorsed James Hahn in the last election, said the vote had no broader implications. “This was a one-time issue where the mayor’s appointment was really out of sync with the desires of many of the people in this city,” he said. “It doesn’t signal any quarrel between him and the council.”

Others, including Villaraigosa supporter Jack Weiss, said that some disagreement was to be expected between the mayor and council members. But he said he would expect the council to rally behind Villaraigosa on big issues, such as his budget plan, which will be released in April.

“There is nothing in the manual that says you get to lead by acclamation,” Weiss said.

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Times staff writer David Pierson contributed to this report.