President Obama has appointed a Maryland state official to head the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, meaning that Villaraigosa adviser Thomas Saenz didn't get the job. The Daily Journal reported last month that Saenz would be tapped. L.A. County Supervisor Gloria Molina told the Blog of Legal Times yesterday that Saenz was actually offered the post and accepted, but that the Obama Administration then shied away from a possible confirmation battle. "It was a political decision from the White House, because of Tom’s work on immigration rights," Molina says on the blog. Saenz is a former top lawyer at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Molina says, "Our community needs advocacy, and for Tom to be treated in this kind of way speaks volumes of the lack of courage of the administration."

Added politics note: "The Los Angeles elections on March 3 turned out to be more interesting than most of us had expected, especially the role of the Fifth Council District," analyst and professor Raphael Sonenshein says in the Jewish Journal.