Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, campaigning for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Texas over the weekend, has been under attack for spending too much time campaigning for Clinton, The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday.
In a story headlined "Villaraigosa: missing in action," the paper said the mayor has spent nearly three weeks campaigning for Clinton across the country and critics question whether he is being distracted from pressing city business, including a budget deficit that requires tens of millions of U.S. dollars in cuts.
"I think it's too much for the mayor to be gone for reasons that have nothing to do with Los Angeles," Sandy Brown, president of the Los Angeles Property Owners Association, told the paper.
"I don't see a nexus between campaigning on behalf of a candidate and bringing business back," he said.
Villaraigosa aides said he hasn't missed any important events in Los Angeles and most of his work for the Clinton campaign has occurred on weekends. They said he keeps in touch with City Hall using his cellphone and through aides.
Deputy Mayor Sean Clegg said Villaraigosa sees working on Clinton's campaign as an investment in the city's future because a Democratic president would focus more attention and allocate more money on the needs of big cities.
"The mayor said it many times: This is the most important presidential election in his lifetime," Clegg said. "The outcome is going to have a profound consequence for the city of Los Angeles, from homeland security to transportation to the environment. He believes that by fighting for change in the White House, he is working for the city he loves."
After campaigning for Hillary Rodham Clinton in Texas over the weekend, Villaraigosa will return to Los Angeles Monday earlier than scheduled amid complaints that he is spending too little time at home.
Villaraigosa, a Clinton campaign national co-chair, campaigned for the Democratic presidential hopeful in the Dallas-Forth Worth area over the weekend. A schedule released late last week said he would campaign in Brownsville and Pharr in Texas on Monday and in Houston on Tuesday, the day of the Texas primary.
Instead, the mayor will return to Los Angeles on Monday to attend the 2008 International Chiefs of Police Summit on Transnational Gangs at the Universal City Hilton Hotel, according to his aide Matt Szabo.
Source:Xinhua
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