Mayor: Never mind on MJ donations

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has changed his office's tune on donations to defray expenses of the Michael Jackson memorial, saying this morning that providing police services is what cities do and that neither the Jackson family nor AEG will be asked to pony up. First off, that's an interesting in-your-face to City Attorney Carmen Trutanich, who is trying to use the issue to make his first hay at City Hall. It also re-raises the mystery of just what the Twitter messages sent under the mayor's name represent. Last week, @Villaraigosa repeatedly beseeched the public to donate. When questions were raised by LAO about who actually sends the mayoral tweets, spokesman Matt Szabo hedged that they are sent by Villaraigosa himself "or I approve w direct authorization." Now today, Villaraigosa himself says of his staff putting up a website to ask for donations: “I thought it was ridiculous."