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Alan Mittelstaedt, the former LA Weekly news editor guest-blogging for WitnessLA, posts on the issues raised by Mayor Villaraigosa's divorce and his handling of the announcement.
Let’s cut a deal with Mayor Villaraigosa. We’ll grant his outlandish request to stop prying into the real reasons for his marriage breakup, and consider his broken relationship with Corina a private matter, if he’ll start wearing an ankle bracelet around the clock. Or, better yet, consent to having a video cam pointed at himself 24/7 to provide a lasting record of his work improving Los Angeles....It’s hard to imagine the mayor and his advisers spending less than half of their time figuring out how to keep a lid on the marital breakup story.
It’s easy to imagine, however, that a good number of people at City Hall already know who’s to blame for the breakup. If we’re talking about an affair, or more than one, chances are the mayor’s LAPD driver and security detail and top aides know the names of the women. And if one cop knows, so does Chief Bratton and the hierarchy of the police union. Don’t be looking for the mayor to cross the police anytime soon or make any waves as the vote nears on the chief’s second term.
Intimate information in the hands of a few can be powerful. On the other hand, if the mayor tells the full story now, it’s unlikely any of the salacious details could ever be used against him. The re-election of a repeat sexual predator as governor neutered the morality police.
WitnessLA founder Celeste Fremon is taking two weeks at Bennington College in Vermont to work on turning her "American Family" series for the Weekly into a book.