The Trouble With Antonio

Earl Ofari Hutchinson writes:

…Villaraigosa set himself up for the massive and intrusive peep that his revelation into his personal life has triggered. He has reveled in the oftentimes slavish adoration of the media. He has turned his office into a virtual press central, and reportedly has been piqued when the number of TV cameras at an event falls short of his expectation.

Villaraigosa has consistently hungered for the media spotlight, even calling a press conference a few weeks ago to talk about the separation from his wife. That effectively canceled out his plea that the press respect his privacy and his personal relationships. With the Salinas revelation, his private affairs are even more tempting prey for prying eyes.

In a perfect world, free of the media’s obsession with titillating gossip, the stance the city’s top elected official takes on issues and how effective he is at making government work should be the only things that matter in judging his worth and effectiveness. That has nothing to do with the amount of TV camera time or newspaper print space he can grab.