Mayor walks out on Antonovich over 'gang-rape' quip

Dennis Romero at the LA Weekly is reporting that Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa stormed out of an MTA board meeting this morning after county supervisor Mike Antonovich, who is also on the board, characterized the mayor's call for extending the Measure R sales tax by saying something like communities are going to be "gang-raped again."

The mayor stood up, yelled, called the language inappropriate and walked out, the witness says: But he returned to vote.

The committee was considering a stance on the proposal -- in favor or against. The vote was 3-2, with the mayor, who chairs the Metro board, in favor, and Antonovich opposed.

Measure R's tax hike is controversial enough — it needed a two-thirds vote back when and barely got it — but the divvying up of transit funds around the county is a very contentious process with definite winners and losers.