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The day after Villaraigosa launched a TV blitz calling his rival an ethical slug, Hahn fired back Tuesday with his own spots that slam those controversial Florida donations that Villaraigosa says he'll return. The Times story reports that the 30-second Hahn TV ads end on a familiar note, with the narrator warning that "Los Angeles just can't trust Antonio Villaraigosa." That's similar — maybe even identical? — to the language Hahn approved in the Vignali-crack pipe ads in the 2001 campaign, which is certainly no accident. Those ads were widely reviled for their thinly veiled ethnic subtext, but they worked. Responding Tuesday, Villaraigosa campaign manager Ace Smith repeated his "desperate lies from a desperate man" swipe at Hahn — we get the point, Ace, but how about a fresh sound bite — and fell on the slippery slope of hyperbole by claiming that Hahn "ran the dirtiest campaign in American history four years ago." Actually, I bet you wouldn't have to leave Los Angeles to find nastier campaigns in the annals of American politics. Stories: AP's Michael R. Blood calls the Hahn ads "a blistering attack on the character and trustworthiness of front-runner Antonio Villaraigosa." Daily News.
Also: The Times weighs in a day after the Breeze on Villaraigosa supporter Richard Meruelo, the Republican real estate speculator who the paper calls the biggest single spender in the mayoral campaign...The Boston Globe runs a staff piece Wednesday on the Latino-black coalition...Is Hahn's reelection push why the port wants to hire 25 new full-time gardeners — in a hurry?...Educational access channel LA36 has produced a series of 90-second "Voter Minute" spots explaining for voters "what the mayor can do to improve the daily lives of Los Angeles residents: in crime, traffic, jobs, housing, arts and culture, and education." Ken Bernstein of the L.A. Conservancy hosts. They air twice hourly or can be viewed on the LA36 website, along with earlier candidate debates...Matt Szabo blogs that contrary to Hahn's explanation that L.A. lost out for the stem cell research center because "Emeryville had it locked up," that Bay Area city has been rated last among the finalists...Villaraigosa supporter "Mayor Sam" does some digging and turns up a bunch of Florida donations to Hahn as well.
* Late add: David Zahniser in the Breeze advances the Florida angle a bit, reporting that two of Villaraigosa's fundraising events there last month were held by businessmen with contracts to operate airport gift shops. One of them, Sergio Pino, has been dinged by the Miami-Dade County Inspector General for receiving more than $14.6 million to operate airport duty free shops even though his partnership had not "performed any real work or provided any actual services." Asked by Zahniser for more information about the events, Villaraigosa spokesman Nathan James turned surly: "When you investigate every single out-of-state contribution to Hahn's campaign, we'll get back to you." Not classy. Observation: I wonder if the Times is kicking itself. The paper had a reporter with Villaraigosa on last month's Florida fundraising tour, but he didn't pick up on the newsworthy figures involved or the ties to airport contracts. The reporter, John-Thor Dahlburg, is based there, so may simply have missed the L.A. context for the events.