Candidates Go MIA on Key Issues

Antonio Villaraigosa has said during his campaign for mayor that fixing Los Angeles’ schools is a top priority, but the city councilman has skipped 46% of the meetings of the council’s Education and Neighborhoods Committee since he was appointed to the panel in 2003.

Mayor James K. Hahn has said that addressing traffic gridlock is a major goal, but he has missed 36% of the meetings of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Executive Management and Audit Committee since Jan. 1, 2003.

Each candidate has pledged to be an activist mayor if elected May 17, but some City Hall watchers question how they can fulfill that promise if they aren’t showing up for the job.

“I would expect to be fired if I missed more than a third of my meetings,” said Walter Prince, a Northridge businessman and community activist who decided not to vote for either candidate when he turned in his absentee ballot.

Others voiced concern that high absenteeism could mean that the officials are not dealing with priority issues.

“I think the taxpayers would be troubled by someone who says education is a priority but misses nearly half of the meetings of the education committee,” said Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn.

The absences, many of which resulted from the two men being out campaigning for mayor, have put both candidates out of action on some major initiatives. On April 28, for instance, Hahn was in West Los Angeles holding a news conference to blast Villaraigosa on consumer rights issues while the MTA board was meeting to vote on a $640-million budget for a downtown-to-Westside rail line.

“Mr. Hahn’s MTA attendance record is only one of many indications that the issue of traffic gridlock is not a priority for this administration,” Villaraigosa said Wednesday.

When asked about his own attendance at the education committee meetings, Villaraigosa said “I’ve tried to make as many of the meetings as possible and will continue to do that.”

Joe Ramallo, a spokesman for Villaraigosa, said major issues involving governance of the L.A. schools have not gone through the committee.

But Janice Hahn, the mayor’s sister and chairwoman of the education committee, said the panel has tackled major issues, including the creation of a commission to reform the school district. She said Villaraigosa missed the meeting where the reform proposal was discussed, as well as every other meeting this year.

Mayor Hahn did not return calls for comment, but campaign spokesman Kam Kuwata faulted Villaraigosa’s attendance record with the education committee.

“He says he is going to be the education mayor, but this year he hasn’t even shown up for work,” Kuwata said.

The mayor receives an annual salary of $186,989 for a job that includes representing the city on the MTA board, which generally meets once a month.

Hahn’s attendance has been an issue before. In January 2003, The Times reported that Hahn was under pressure from transit activists to devote more attention to the MTA after attending 20 of 37 board and committee meetings held in the year and a half since he became mayor. Since then, Hahn has missed 10 of the 37 meetings of the MTA board.

As an MTA board member, Hahn also is a member of the Executive Management and Audit Committee, for which he missed eight of 22 meetings, or 36%. He also is a member of the Planning and Programming Committee, and has missed five of the 17 meetings.

Kuwata said Hahn has attended meetings necessary to advance improvements to mass transit, even if he doesn’t attend every committee meeting. “He is involved in the big issues and he doesn’t miss big votes,” Kuwata said.

City Council members are paid $143,837 to attend up to three regularly scheduled City Council meetings per week, and serve on three council committees to which they are appointed.

Villaraigosa has missed 21 of the 220 council meetings held since he took office in July 2003, about 9.5% of all sessions. He is chairman of the council’s Transportation Committee and has missed 5 of 34 meetings since he took over in 2003.

Having made education a major issue in his campaign, Villaraigosa is vulnerable to criticism from Hahn and others for missing 12 of the 26 meetings of the Education and Neighborhoods Committee.

“If you are not able to participate in votes, how can you provide leadership?” said Carla Lane, executive director of the Education Coalition, a nonpartisan reform group.