Morning Briefs and Outtakes for Mayor Villaraigosa's return to the Third Floor.

"What did I miss while on vacation ??"

With a Twit, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced his return from the wilds of South Africa.

Villaraigosa and his girlfriend Lu Parker, was again missing in action when Los Angeles became "ground zero" for breaking international news, with the Michael Jackson Memorial and the political fallout over the cost to the city.

The debate over the cost will continue this week in the City Council and the lesson will provide column inches of fodder for the likes of the Daily News Rick Orlov who scribed this thought in today's "Tipoff Column".

OK, everyone take your seat. It's time for another lesson in L.A. Politics 101.

Rule No. 1: Any time you leave the city, know that the risk of a major event happening increases exponentially.

Just ask Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, whose 2007 trip to Mexico and Latin America was cut short by the May Day disturbances. Then in the aftermath of Michael Jackson's death, as the controversy over the city's costs for his memorial service mushroomed, Villaraigosa was vacationing in South Africa.

But at least he will have a present waiting for him when he returns to his Third Floor desk, as excerpted from a e-mail of someone who was backstage at the Memorial.

"During my time backstage I had a chance to have Stevie Wonder, Brooke Shields Usher, and Mariah Carey sign my Gold Program which will undoubtedly be a remarkable keepsake. As I was there, staff from the Mayor's Office asked if I could get them a copy for Mr. Villaraigosa, Fire Chief Berry, Chief Fry, and a couple of others. I also handed copies to Captain Chow, L.A.P.D public relations Officer and another copy for Police Chief Bratton. I thank them all for a wonderful job and handling this event. After all things closed, lunch was served and I walked outside to see the light of day and still thousands of people roamed the streets."

We will post this e-mail in full later, for it highlights the massive use of city resources for this event. BTW, were the Mayor's staff on city time when attending the Memorial ???

Other News:

** A voter out of every ten will likely venture to a voting booth tomorrow in the runoff for the 32nd Congressional District. Parke Skelton client Judy Chu, is the prohibitive favorite to win the seat vacated by Labor Secretary Hilda Solis.

** Los Angeles Times resident "sock puppet" Michael Hiltzik again takes Prop 13 to task in his latest missive regarding the state's budget woes.

** Another Times scribe, Tim Rutten takes up the cause of Homeboy Industries.

The city of Los Angeles promised to make $500,000 available as payment for services. The money was to come in monthly increments, starting July 1.

That date came and went without a word from City Hall, let alone a check. Friday, I asked Jeff Carr, who runs L.A.'s gang-intervention efforts for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, what had happened to the promised funds? He explained that the city intended to pass along $500,000 in federal aid previously earmarked for Boyle Heights, but had discovered the account was $160,000 short. The mayor's office is trying to scrape the rest of that money together, and then must get federal Department of Justice and City Council approval to allocate it to Homeboy.

But they did get a $200,000 contract to make t-shirts, go figure.

** And lastly, a former veteran of CD 14 "cut and paste battles" Robert Urteaga is facing a recall in Montebello. More on this later.

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