Bob Armstrong writes:
I got wind of the LA cherry bomb explosion on Independence Day when I saw the blog post on Slate by Mickey Kaus noting that the LA Times was scooped by “lone blogger” Luke Ford who blew the whistle on Mayor Villaraigosa’s marriage falling apart. The story is so fitting for Hollywood in that Mayor V had embarked on an “affair of the heart” with Telemundo news anchor Mirthala Salinas. A script should soon be in the works.
It is well know that reporters and politicians run in the same circles and sometimes this leads to situations where the newshound fails to take a bite out of the politician’s hide. But the rock star mayor and the Telemundo hottie’s relationship is as cozy as it could get. Salinas even reported on Telemundo about the mayor splitting with his wife, but failed to note her own, uh, position in the matter. Too bad. That would have been the disclaimer of the century.
Mickey Kaus followed up on July 6 with another post about Telemundo placing Salinas on leave while it investigates whether she violated journalistic ethics. He suggested the Spanish network should go with “an hour Mirthala Salinas special” and speculated, probably accurately, that Telemundo was trying to butter up to media critics like Howard Kurtz—a “respectability play.”
Kaus seems to suggest Salinas is getting a raw deal. Does he think she should be able to keep her job? If so, how does he reconcile the conflict of interest? The LA Weekly reported Salinas has covered the Mayor “during many of his high-profile endeavors,” including showing up grandly on the scene of a gang shooting and his attempt to take over the LA Unified School District. The Weekly did point out it is “fuzzy” as to when the affair actually began, but it appears that it has been a work in progress for some time.
Sources told ERSNews.com that on three separate occasions over the past year Telemundo officials asked Salinas if she was involved with Mayor V and on all three occasions she denied it. If this report from ERSNews is true, Salinas lied. Will Kaus still stand by her? If he won’t I will, but that’s not much help given that I’m a convicted felon, busted for pimping. (Details in my book, Vanilla Slim, for those interested.) I’d say it is OK to lie when asked a question you should not have been asked. (Note: This former pimp is not above ripping off his betters. The preceding line, slightly altered, is from Michael Kinsley’s July 5 New York Times op-ed piece on Scooter Libby and Bill Clinton.) If Salinas told the truth, she’d be outing her lover. Telemundo would have to release the bombshell or they would be covering up just like…the LA Times which, as Luke pointed out, knew all along and failed to report the story.
Still, Salinas has to take responsibility for her actions, in this case, getting way too close to a powerful politician while she’s reporting on the guy. She needs to come clean on the entire affair, and that would indeed make a spectacular news special. A reprimand is in order, but not getting canned. But if she does get fired, she can always call Playboy and follow up the spread with a book deal and an HBO movie.
