LA Mayor loses more Black leaders - Villaraigosa Gaining on Hahn

Maxine Waters endorses Villaraigosa
In a serious blow to Mayor James Hahn, two more African-American community leaders who previously supported him announced Thursday that they are backing City Councilman Antonio Villaraigosa in the May 17 race for mayor. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, one of the nation's most powerful black leaders and a longtime ally of Hahn and his family, said she had decided to switch her allegiance because of the mayor's record during his first four-year term. The Rev. Clyde Oden Jr., senior pastor of Bryant Temple, African Methodist Episcopal Church, also announced his support for Villaraigosa. County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, another former Hahn supporter, had endorsed Villaraigosa last week. "We have seen what Jimmy Hahn has done as mayor, and Jimmy Hahn is no Kenny Hahn," Waters said, referring to the mayor's late father, popular Supervisor Kenneth Hahn, who represented South Los Angeles for more than four decades. "I haven't heard from this mayor in four years. This mayor promised to work with all the people, and we haven't heard from him. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. It's done. "We are focused on looking to the city of the future." At a news conference in North Hollywood, where he announced a plan to expand the role of neighborhood councils in city decision-making, Hahn said he had not expected to win Waters' endorsement. But he disputed her claim that the two have had no contact. [more]

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