Frank talk about Villaraigosa

On the Times Op-Ed page, Patt Morrison doesn't want to know any more about the Villaraigosa marital troubles. But Steve Lopez writes in the Times that it's time for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to " tame his incorrigible, teenage ways" and grow the hell up. Excerpt:

We all knew what we were getting with this guy. He's a man of insatiable appetites, and anyone who needs to be loved as much as Villaraigosa is setting himself up for big disappointments and even bigger mistakes. Mistakes like the news conference in which he said that he and his wife of 20 years were splitting up.

Just as I shouldn't have to tell City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo to speak up about the caper involving his wife and his smashed city vehicle, I shouldn't have to tell Villaraigosa to shut up about his broken marriage. But somebody has to...

At his core, he's an insecure soul who believes there is no better place to hide his weaknesses than in front of a camera, where he can emphasize his strengths.

[snip]

You want privacy? Don't call a news conference. Otherwise it looks smarmy and self-serving, and yet another slight to your wife and children.

Lopez ends with as tough a shot as I can remember the Times ever directing at Villaraigosa:

Unless he has had an affair with someone who reports on City Hall, or he otherwise compromised the office of mayor, it probably is none of our business. But Villaraigosa said nothing to dispel the raging rumors, and Corina Villaraigosa filed for divorce the next day, citing irreconcilable differences.

I wouldn't bet on it, but maybe when it all sinks in, the mayor will wake up and realize it's time to tame his incorrigible, teenage ways and do at least one job right. The 15-hour days haven't done us, him or his family any good. He's spread so thin, all his major goals are unmet.

With a long trail of close friends and supporters who feel Villaraigosa betrayed them to advance his own cause, let's hope this latest failure, as he calls it, could finally bring the humility he so badly needs.

Also: Corina will move back to Mount Washington, not stay at Getty House as first announced, the Daily News says.