Mayor Villar does Kentucky's Churchill Downs for California Horse Racing and "close friend"

Mayor Antonio Villar in Chatsworth.

What or who would get Mayor Antonio Villar to journey back east to Kentucky's Churchill Downs for a weekend with the Horse Racing crowd at the 2011 Breeder's Cup? maybe the City of Arcadia should put Villar on retainer.

From the Los Angeles Times Sports Page on "the what" .............

On a sparkling Kentucky fall afternoon, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stood in a Breeders' Cup winner's circle in the shrine of horse racing and didn't pause to proclaim that his metropolis can do better by staging the event routinely at Santa Anita. (whoops, Santa Anita is located in the City of Arcadia)

From the Los Angeles Times on the "close friend connection" on this trip..............

He was accompanied by Santa Anita executive Greg Avioli and California Horse Racing Board Executive Director Keith Brackpool for Saturday's informal talks.

The reality behind this trip that won't appear in the Los Angeles Times .............

PARTY TIME! For old friends Keith and Tony among the "phillies" at Churchill Downs.

Your thoughts..............

Scott Johnson in CD 14

Mayor Sam's Hotsheet for Friday

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce also known as the Downtown Interest Protection Racket has endorsed Chris Essel for City Council. Yes we know many of you are thinking "What a surprise." Considering Essel's previous positions supporting SB1818 and the Downtown view that Neighborhood Councils are pesky roadblocks to developer happiness, the Chambers nod to the "Queen of SB1818" is clearly consistent with Downtown's animosity towards the rest of the City.

It seems funny but Governor Schwarzenegger has appointed one of Mayor Villaraigosa's more controversial associates to the California Horse Racing  Board. Keith Brackpool - whose Cadiz Inc. wants to build a multi-million dollar water project for several Southern California water agencies opposed by environmentalists - will earn $100 per meeting ruling on the ponies.  Brackpool you may remember was reportedly part of the Mayor's recent retreat to Iceland to ponder what possible future Villaraigosa could have.

Good news for Billy the Elephant and those enlightened folks who believe that storing pachyderms in restrictive zoos is an idea whose time has come and gone.  A judge has ordered that lawsuit filed by opponents of the boondoggle multi-million dollar elephant pen may go forward.  Lets hope that both of the candidates for CD2 come out in favor of halting the project.

The mommies who write at the always excellent Beckford Parents Blog have an observation about the results of the CD2 election Tuesday: They're stuck with Tamar Galatzan as their School Board Member for another two years. Hopeful she'll get a clue they still speculate that Galatzan - who everyone knew would run for Wendy Greuel's open spot before she even got elected to the school  board - may try again for Council in 2011.  That means she'd have to give her school board seat and clear the way for a candidate more acceptable to the residents of her district.

Keith Brackpool's Cadiz proposal back in the Spotlight

Time for Mayor Villar's former boss, party friend, vacation host and confidant Keith Brackpool to move on ??

That is moving on with his water storage scheme in the Mojave Desert as the Los Angeles Business Journal reports.

Cadiz Inc. was the biggest price gainer Friday on the Nasdaq after announcing it signed letters of intent with five Southern California water providers to partner on a $200 million underground water storage project.

The proposal resurrects a water-banking project that the Metropolitan Water District killed in 2002 after opposition from environmentalists and questions that arose about the finances of the Los Angeles natural resources company.

The project would involve pumping Colorado River water into an aquifer beneath 35,000 acres Cadiz owns near the U.S. Marine Corps base at Twentynine Palms. The water would then be stored and piped to Los Angeles and other Southern California counties.

The prior effort died when environmentalists argued that pumping the aquifer would harm the desert’s delicate ecology. Other critics questioned Cadiz’s ability to carry out the project, given the company’s high debt load.

Brackpool who employed Villar as a consultant after his 2001 loss in the Mayoral Race, has the support of Governor "Kennedy Republican" another politician with waning political capital.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is among several politicians and labor leaders backing the new proposal, which he claimed is environmentally sensitive.

“This innovative project, utilizing sophisticated water conservation practices, will sustainably recover more than one million acre feet of water that would otherwise be lost to evaporation and make it available to help provide a reliable source of water for Southern California,” Schwarzenegger said in a statement. (payed for with stock options ??).

The resurgence of the Cadiz is sure to spark a slap back from within the environmental community, but who will lead the battle. or could this spark a civil war among environmental groups ??

As seen with the recent Los Angeles Magazine Article on Tejon Ranch, the likes of the Sierra Club, who's Desert Chapter led the fight against Cadiz the last time, is more apt to compromise than fight these days for conservation issues (one must remember that DWP Director of Human Resources Susana Reyes is the Sierra Club's Los Angeles County Political Director).

One would have to bet on the "Wildlands Conservancy" and the "Center for Biological Diversity" to take the lead on opposing the newest Cadiz scheme. The Wildlands Conservancy is not too happy these days with Mayor Villar and some of the DWP's powerline schemes.

Your thoughts......

Tony Villar's Summer Vacation paid for by.............

Lets start out our beautiful Sunday morning with a "political/financial word problem" that would make an LAUSD math teacher.....and board members proud (refer to Meruelo Maddox/Taylor Yard post).

"You are Mayor Antonio Ramon Villar, you want to take your son Tonito on a vacation before he goes off to Princeton, but with the ex. wife getting half of your $200,000+ salary and the cost of tuition for your kids education going up, what political friend will you call upon (and reward with city contracts) to pay for your quality time with Tonito??"

Multiple Choice Answers:

A. Billionaire Eli Broad

B. Billionaire Ron Burkle

C. Billionaire Keith Brackpool

D. Millionaire Jackie Autry

E. All of the Above

We now link to former Daily News Editor and S.L.A.P. founder Ron Kaye to get the answer and some great commentary on the Summer Vacation of the "Friend of the Rich and Famous, Antonio Ramon Villar".

From Ron Kaye.......

"Life is grand for Antonio Villaraigosa and money is the game, luxury is the payoff.

For truly ambitious politicians, the payoff is power and the glory. I know Antonio well enough to say I believe he could have been one of those who really changed L.A. for the better, or failed trying.

He offered himself as the punk from East L.A. with big dreams and high values, a guy who could stand up to gangs -- at least the gangs of special interests that feed off L.A.'s treasury, the developers, contractors and public employee unions. But he made his choice early on when he could have blocked the sweetheart contract negotiated under his predecessor's watch with the Department of Water and Power's all-powerful union.

Instead, he signed off on it.

And what's happened since has made his administration the most corrupt in modern LA. history. His charm and glibness, his easy way of smoothing over and obscuring the truth, his selling out the city's future to the highest bidder, his endless travel in search of self-importance and cash to fuel his campaigns for office, for higher taxes, for political advantage".

If one still drinks the "Kool-aid of Spin" crafted by the likes of Parke Skelton on the "Fatherless boy from the hills of City Terrace", then this excellent post by Ron Kaye is what you need to understand who is the true "Antonio Ramon Villar".