Readers React: Voters who won’t miss Antonio Villaraigosa

To the editor: Antonio Villaraigosa lost because the Latinos realized he was a political sham. A power grabber who could easily have outpaced Gavin Newsom if Latinos had trusted him and come out to vote.

John Cox may have been little known in Los Angeles and San Francisco liberal circles, but in San Diego and south Orange County he was a respected businessman who spent millions of his dollars to help fund USO operations for our veterans.

If both Newsom and Villaraigosa were on the ballot, there would be no democracy, would there? What would be the choice? Liberal vs. liberal. There would be no challenge to the unfair gas tax. There would be no challenge to the outlandish and money-wasting bullet train. There would be no pushback on the state’s “sanctuary city” position.

So what happened? Conservatives came out to vote and liberals did not support Villaraigosa.

Denis Montenaro, Laguna Niguel

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To the editor: It appears we are finally saying good-bye to Villaraigosa on the California political scene. His hairline receding, his posturing as a man of the downtrodden, the working class, the Latino underclass, unconvincing from a man who made millions off Herbalife.

Perhaps too many also remembered he wasn’t quite the family man he liked to portray himself as. Understandably, Villaraigosa could never integrate the life and lifestyle of an entitled aristocrat with a message of working-class hero.

Mitch Paradise, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The Times’ article on the defeat of Antonio Villaraigosa omitted two important causal factors. Villaraigosa, since leaving the mayor’s office, earned big money as a consultant for Herbalife and Cadiz, among other companies. Herbalife has been said to entice poor Latinos, among others, into a trap within which they purchase goods from Herbalife which they then struggle to sell to their friends and neighbors. Cadiz is a company that wants to drain a desert aquifer in order to sell the water. This could prove to be devastating to the plant and animal life of the desert. I worked as a volunteer for Villaraigosa when he ran for mayor, walking precincts and manning phone banks. He betrayed my trust in him, and I voted for Newsom.

Bob Lentz, Sylmar

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To the editor: Like many others, I was stunned to see Los Angeles’ former mayor drop to a distant third place on election night. Not because I was rooting for him, but because of something I noticed after seeing the major candidates’ TV commercials endlessly.

Gavin Newsom projected an air of strength and leadership, while Villaraigosa looked old and tired and seemed to take for granted he would be the runner-up going into November.

William Winkler, Burbank

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