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Mayor Villaraigosa took a step this weekend toward toning down the controversy over his practice of taking free tickets from companies with major business before City Hall, compliments of Steve Lopez and the L.A. Times. Villaraigosa and Lopez went to Friday night's Yankees game at Dodger Stadium together, got their smiling photo taken up on the upper level where neither the mayor nor the columnist ever actually sit, and Lopez dutifully wrote a Sunday column laughing off the brouhaha over Villaraigosa's free tickets as no big deal. The column comes clean about the scene being fake, but it also conflates Villaraigosa's civic role as booster and proclamation giver — a role I do think exists — with the mayor's practice of accepting free tickets to enjoy events (sometimes with Lu Parker or another guest.) As I'll discuss in my KCRW column on Monday, the way Villaraigosa chooses to flaunt his freebies is a self-inflicted political wound, as well as possibly illegal. At Dodger Stadium, he always sits in Frank McCourt's box on the field — not among the fans or with other city leaders. In the Lakers playoffs, he just had to sit courtside — if he had just stayed a couple of rows back, no one would have probably noticed. The column airs on KCRW at 6:44 p.m. and will be on the web at KCRW.com.
Friday news item: The mayor's office provided documents showing he gets more free tickets from the Dodgers than any other source, and argued that any attendance by Villaraigosa is part of his civic duties whether he gives a proclamation or not.
Around LA Observed: Mark Lacter has lost patience with the mayor's freebie defense, while Bill Boyarsky thinks the mayor should keep taking free tickets.
Photo: Cropped from L.A. Times photo of Villaraigosa and Lopez by Gina Ferazzi. Click to see full photo at Times site