Follow LA Observed on Twitter here
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made his most direct comment yet about his future political plans in a conversation with "Airtalk" host Larry Mantle on KPCC. Responding to a question, Villaraigosa said: "You mentioned governor, look, I believe in public service, I want to run for governor. In fact, I fully expect that I will." He also confirmed our report that, yes, he is moving to Venice: "I love that part of the city." From the interview:
This city has given me more than I could have ever hoped for. The people of this town gave me a shot when a lot of folks thought it was an impossible dream. I have no regrets...there's a bit of sadness on some levels I guess and nostalgia, but its about the people"...
"I'll do anything that the mayor, the governor, the City of Los Angeles asks me to do on their behalf. If I can promote the town that I was born and raised in and that my grandpa came to 100 years ago, I'm going to do it.....I'm going to probably affiliate with a university or think tank, maybe do a little public speaking, since I have turned down a lot of requests over the years. Then I want to do a listening tour, I think we all want to restore the California dream and I want to figure out how to do it."
On his personal life, Villaraigosa speaks to why he doesn't talk about his relationships and discusses the end of his marriage.
I took responsibility for the breakup, and if there was anything that I regret was the way I handled it. But I took responsibility, I never pushed back when you asked the tough questions. I'm very proud of the fact that I'm closer to my kids today than I ever had been and that both live with their dad, that Corina and I have a great relationship and a great friendship. As far as the other relationships, I did push back on that. The day that I spearheaded the passage of America Fast Forward...the newspaper of record did not put it in the newspaper, what they put was my breakup with my ex-girlfriend. I took umbrage with that. A great newspaper ought to be printing things that people care about. Issues that people care about, so my breakup of my marriage I understand that, the other stuff, come on, a little much.
File photo of Villaraigosa at a Los Angeles Magazine event
