Antonio Villaraigosa talks to LAist about why he should be California's next governor (Transcript)

Here's a transcript of the conversation that took place Monday, April 13, on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in front of a live audience of students and other guests.

Antonio Villaraigosa, 73, is running as a Democrat.

Larry Mantle: Antonio Villaraigosa is running for governor. He served as mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. He served three terms prior in the state assembly where he held its top position as speaker for the final two years. This is his second run for governor, having run eight years ago when Gavin Newsom was elected. And Mayor Villaraigosa grew up right here in Southern California, east Los Angeles. He's a graduate of UCLA. Mayor Villaraigosa welcome to AirTalk and LMU.

Antonio Villaraigosa: And I’m a fan of LMU.

How he differs from Gov. Newsom

Mantle: Most of the Democratic candidates have staked out positions that subtly differ from Gov. Newsom's, but we haven't heard candidates, at least the Democrats, criticizing the governor. In what area you most distinctly different in approach from the current governor?

Villaraigosa: You know, we left kids out of school for 18 months longer than any state in the United States of America. Yes, we were having COVID at the time, but a lot of schools all over, including private schools in this state, a lot of schools all over the country opened them up after six months. That is a policy that he and I differed on very strongly.

Mantle: So you would've opened up schools as soon as six months?

Villaraigosa: Well, as soon as it was medically necessary. But at the end of the day, it could have been six months, it could have been eight months, but it wouldn't have been 18 months. I could tell you that.

Mantle: He was, though, dealing with teachers unions who, you know, many teachers didn't want to come back that soon. And you know that unions, particularly teacher unions, are big players supporting Democratic candidates in Sacramento. Would you take the risk of alienating unions?

Villaraigosa: Look, I'm a big fan of teachers and teachers unions. My ex-wife was a teacher for 20 years during our marriage, and I can tell you she sacrificed. She put everything she had in that job. But the science wasn't with the notion that we keep kids out for 18 months. As I said, private schools, including private schools that many politicians sent their kids to, were open and were open after six, and almost every state opened up after a year. 18 months was just way too long.

And yes, I would've stood up for kids. Particularly since then, we see that we're in the mid-40s, mid-30s in reading the math in the fourth grade. We're No. 1 in teacher pay, we should be. We're 21st in per-pupil spending, we're in the mid-30s and reading in math in the fourth grade, and we're dead last in graduation.

California's deficit

Mantle: Let's talk Mayor Villaraigosa about Gov. Newsom's administration and the state Legislative Analyst Office projects a multi-year structural budget deficit of $20 [billion] to $35 billion. The LAO describes it as a chronic deficit. This is the state's economy, and as stock returns have grown significantly boosting tax revenue. So what specifics, either spending cuts or legislative tax increases, would you pursue?

Villaraigosa: First of all, Jerry Brown left us with a $300 million surplus. You just said it as you framed your question. During that time, we've had boom years, and yet we've been in deficits, not chronic deficits of this magnitude.

But there's no question that where we are today is in a situation that the next governor's gonna have to make tough choices. So before I tackle that, let me just tell you, when I was mayor, Wall Street said L.A. is going bankrupt. I said, not under my watch. We had a structural deficit of $1.4 billion, so 25% of the $4.7 billion general fund budget.

I made the tough calls when I was speaker. I balanced two budgets with a surplus. So what do we need to do? Yes, we're gonna have to cut. Anybody that says that the next governor is not gonna cut when you're looking at $18 [billion] to $35 billion deficits is selling you snake oil.

Mantle: Where? Where would those cuts come from?

Villaraigosa: Well, they're, we're gonna have to look at the whole thing. We're gonna have to look at the whole thing the way I did as mayor. And yes, some people are talking about a billionaire tax. What I've said is billionaires should pay more than the rest of us, but the federal government should do that because at, at the end of the day, they're just leaving and they're leaving as we speak.

With respect to making permanent the 13%, which is the highest upper-income tax in the United States, I think we should do it, but not unless we do a spending plan. And to the young people in this room, if that's not resonating to you or for you, be clear about this, that budget deficit is gonna be on your backs.

It's gonna be on your backs.

How he'd handle the legislature

Mantle: Mayor Villaraigosa, Jerry Brown, who you mentioned, he was sideways with his party, particularly later in his term, consistently, as you well know, because of that more hawkish position that he took on, on the budget. Are you prepared to be battling the legislature all the time if you were governor?

Villaraigosa: Well, I did it as mayor. That's why we need a proven problem solver. That's why we need somebody who's done it before, you know? Everybody's gonna talk. Well, I understand. I'm the first one to come. All of the people that are running for, uh, this office, both Democrat and Republican, they'll speak well. The best way to know what you're gonna do is to see what you've done.

I've made those tough calls, two budgets with a surplus, with a Republican governor when we were a purple state and a Democratic governor when we were a blue state. You remember those days? You interviewed me multiple times. Everybody said L.A. was going bankrupt, and I said, not under my watch. And so yes, I'm willing to take on whoever I have to take on for you.

What he'd do about health care fraud

Mantle: We've seen dramatic stories about enormous health care fraud in California, including in hospice care and Medi-Cal. If elected governor, what would you do to combat the presumed hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars defrauded from taxpayers?

Villaraigosa: Remember. That's on top of the unemployment fund a few years ago. Look, governors have to watch the store. You have to watch where the money's going. I don't know the full extent, but I'm understanding there's, it's a few hundred million dollars. It's not talking about just one ...

Mantle: Just one case —

Villaraigosa: (interjects) Just one case!

Larry Mantle: ... over a hundred-million dollars .

Villaraigosa: So if there are multiple, we're talking, could be in the billions.

And so, I'm just focused on this job. The only one in this race that's not running for president of the United States. At the end of the day, I wanna be a governor. I was eight years as mayor. I could have left. I got asked to go to the Obama administration. I could have left early. I said, no. I promised the people of this state I was gonna fill out my full eight years, and I did.

And so from my vantage point, the next governor's gonna have to watch the store and make sure that fraud and waste are not, uh, the order of the day.

The homelessness crisis

Mantle: California has spent over $24 billion on homelessness services over the past five years that's independent of billions of dollars collectively spent by cities and counties like Los Angeles.

Critics argue there's minimal accountability in how public funds are being spent here in Los Angeles. The LA Homeless Services Authority allegedly sent millions of dollars to a provider with non-existent board members. Members that were never checked, no money was ever spent, not a single dollar it's alleged from the organization to people in need.

So what would you do as governor to demonstrate that state funding is providing a public benefit?

Villaraigosa: You didn't say one thing. When the state spent $24 billion, homelessness went — 24 —went up. Folks, you can't just throw money at a problem. We gotta invest in what works.

The LAO did an audit. They could only point to two programs that worked. One was renter assistance program, so people don't get homeless in the first place, and the other was the home keep program for temporary housing, motels, hotels and the like. So what would I do? The same thing I did when I was mayor and I was speaker.

None of that kind of stuff happened under my watch. I was mayor of the biggest city in this state, the second-biggest city in the country for eight years. Trust me, we're like, I think we're bigger than 42 states. At the end of the day, I was on top of it, and the next governor has to hire people around him that are on top of it and ultimately that are responsible, and I intend to do that.

His time as L.A. mayor

Mantle: You know, at the time that you were mayor, you had plenty of critics and people who thought —

Villaraigosa: (interjects) Oh yes, I did.

Larry Mantle: — that that you were more interested in campaigning for things, getting behind causes than actual administrating. What's your response to that criticism?

Antonio Villaraigosa: Noise? Look, at the end of the day, the record speaks for itself.

L.A. was the most violent big city in America when I became mayor. By the time I left with constitutional and community policing, we saw a 48% drop in violent crime, not just by growing the cops to a thousand officers, but to 10,000 officers. But also dramatically expanding afterschool programs, summer youth jobs, prevention and intervention programs where we identify the kids most at risk to get in gangs, workforce training programs and the like.

One outta three schools were failing when I became mayor. By the time I left, it was one outta 10, a 60% increase in the graduation rate. The San Fernando Valley was talking about seceding back then, if you remember. We built more infrastructure than anybody in the United States of America.

I understand that 25% of all the cranes in the United States were in L.A. during that period. There's only one crane in LA today, and that's in Century City. And finally, we were the No. 1 American City in reducing greenhouse gases. No. 5 in the world. So noise.

Mantle: Mayor Villaraigosa, you put a tremendous amount of effort into taking control of the L.A. Unified School District, which was going through a very difficult time in student achievement, was at low ebb. Do you regret spending so much energy on that as you look back?

Villaraigosa: I just said, you know, look, everybody, I, I wasn't a perfect kid. I grew up in a home of domestic violence and alcoholism.

My father left when I was five. I got, uh, thrown outta school. Catholic school, college prep. Um, I went to a public school where they put me in basic reading classes and upholstery classes 'cause that's what they did to us back then. Uh, I ended up dropping out. I came back, I graduated on time. I went to East LA College and UCLA after that in law school, even later.

And I tell people, those kids dropping out were me. And I had to stand up for those kids and I had to take on powerful interests, if you recall. Uh, and I did because I don't believe that we can keep on making excuses for kids who grew up in poor communities, uh, communities of color in large part at, you know, that their English language learners, they're poor, their mom doesn't have a credit card.

I tell 'em you're talking about me. And I can read 'em write. So yes, I fought for those kids. I took on powerful interest. And you didn't say they were waiting for me when I ran for governor last time and spent, what, 25 million bucks.

Mantle: You're talking about the teacher's unions?

Villaraigosa: I'm talking about. All the people I took on.

How he'd handle California's high gas prices

Mantle: California gasoline prices are exorbitant compared to every state, but Hawaii according to a CBS news analysis, state taxes and environmental rules add around a dollar a gallon to prices at the pump. This as our freeways and bridges are suffering from deferred maintenance. Setting aside Middle East conflicts that governors can't control, given what they can control with the state legislature.

What would you propose to bring down gas prices?

Villaraigosa: When I was Speaker of the Assembly, I'm the author of Carl Moyer. Carl Moyer is a grant program giving trucks who spew out and buses that spew out dirty diesel engines, giving them a grant for cleaner engines. When I was mayor, I told you we were the number one American city in reducing greenhouse gases.

The port, which is the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases in California is the greenest port in the world. I believe in climate change. I have fought for climate change my entire political life. But folks, if we close down one more refinery, we've closed 12 since 2000, or, or a little before that. If one more closes, gas prices are going to $8.75 a gallon.

So what I've said is I got a gas plan - and by the way, it's not a dollar. It's closer to a $1.31 to a $1.51 in regulatory costs, which is why on average we're $2 more. By the way, we produce the cleanest fuel in the world.

Mantle: So you're saying, you're putting cap and trade and all those other fees into it -

Villaraigosa: I'm tacking all of that on, I'm saying that we gotta put a moratorium on regulations that make it impossible for these refineries to exist. I'm saying we should have a rebate, not break the gas tax, but in fact, I said that on your show a rebate after $5.50 a gallon, people need to get their money back, and the state will give that money back and it'll come from cap and invest, they don't call it cap and trade anymore, cap and invest, and it'll come from other programs as well. In addition we've got to be clear, we ought to, we ought to be rewarding refinery release when they try to. You know, do carbon sequestration and the like. And what I've said is we'll provide a tax credit to do that 'cause we want them to do right. But remember, they already produce the cleanest fuel in the United States. Some people say the cleanest fuel in the world.

Mantle: Environmental justices, advocates argue that the refineries are typically in communities of color where people are exposed, even with them being cleaner refineries still, uh, to the product that's produced there.

So what do you say to those nearby sites?

Villaraigosa: We need to mitigate, that's why we need to mitigate, that's why we need to invest in those communities. I did when I was mayor. If you recall when we said we were gonna grow and green the port, and I said it's the greenest port in, in the world, when I said we were gonna do that, part of the greening was providing mitigation for Wilmington and Watts and San Pedro.

So, uh, I believe in environmental justice, but I'm telling you, if gas prices go to $8.75 a gallon the way USC says they will, you are gonna see a whole lot of people go to the dark side 'cause people can't afford it. We were just talking outside. You can't put all of it on the backs of working people. Okay? You just can't.

We all think that we should go all electric by 2035.

How? Raise your hand. How many people think we should go all electric by 2035?

What if I told you in the last 10 years we built 167,000 charging stations. In the next 10 years we need 2 million more. And if we built them, we don't have a grid. So the next governor's gotta build, build the grid, not just talk and set goals and that are false goals 'cause they're not gonna happen. We were all for it, but we're not doing the hard work. I have a record of doing the hard work on climate change.

Immigration and the White House

Mantle: Mayor Villaraigosa, you've criticized the ICE raids here in California. What you see as violations of the rights of people detained, the conditions under which they're held.

What would you do differently than Governor Newsom? So we can compare and contrast when it comes to fighting ICE's actions.

Villaraigosa: You asked me to criticize him a while back on something we were different on. He's doing a lot of what we should do. So I'm not gonna do that. I'm not gonna take that. But I will say this, just like I'm the only one in this race that has a gas plan.

I'm the only one that has an ICE plan. What have I said? No more arresting people covered from head to toe. Like the Ku Klux Klan, without identification, No. Unacceptable. No more ripping kids from the arms of their parents in schools, uh, in hospitals, in courthouses, in homes without a warrant, a judicial warrant.

25 people have died in the last year in detention centers. What I've said is we have a right and I, in my plan, I said, we'll put a multi-agency task force together to review healthcare for kids, to review education, to review therapy and counseling. They've been ripped from the arms of their parents.

They need to be cared for. The same for adults. We need to look across the board and regulate. We need to say, in this state, you have to have a warrant and you gotta identify yourself. If you commit an act, and assault someone, we have a right to investigate. You know in L.A., in California, when a police officer engages in an act that causes injury.

They have to investigate that. These people did not investigate those things -

Mantle: So Mayor Villaraigosa, so there's nothing to stop the state, of course, from doing an investigation, provided it has access to data and evidence. There's nothing that would potentially keep the state from attempting to prosecute under state law.

But if it comes down to enforcement from law enforcement, local agencies, state agencies don't wanna be going head to head with federal officers.

Villaraigosa: Well, that's why we have to pass laws. Initially on day one, it will be executive directives, and then I will go to the legislature and maybe that's an area where I think the governor should do now is go to the legislature and pass these laws.

Mantle: We have a question from a Loyola Marymount University student.

Villaraigosa: Great.

Mantle: Thania Mata asked this of you, "Mayor Villaraigosa. Under the Newsom administration, she says, you served as infrastructure advisor. What would be the general elements of your transportation policy if you were to become governor?"

Villaraigosa: Built more light rail than anybody in the United States of America, and we met, so it's good to see you again. We built more light rail than anybody in America. Those three light rail lines, one busway, the subway's coming. I'm excited about it because if you remember when I first ran in 2005, I said we'd build a subway to the sea and that subway's coming, and we already have a light rail line now because of my efforts.

So what you'll see is we're gonna build again. You know, if you read the book Abundance, how many of you read Abundance? Ezra Klein.

So a couple of you. In Democratic states, not just California, we don't build anymore. We're not building housing, we're not building infrastructure, we're not building the grid.

We're not building water storage. We're not building anything. And so the next governor has got to build again, put people in good middle class jobs and repair our highways and our roads and focus a lot more on, you know, public transit.

Mantle: We have just a couple minutes left, but I want to, um, to raise the issue of President Trump and his administration, California Democrats are undoubtedly happy when their governor takes on the Trump administration verbally and legally. What would you do if you are elected governor, you mentioned with ICE, and what would you do, you would do about the raids, but in other areas would you see a continuation of encouraging the Attorney General to file the range of lawsuits that are being filed? What would you do rhetorically? How would you approach this?

Villaraigosa: In 2016, when he was elected, I said, work with him where we can fight him where we have to. I think he's shown he's not interested in working with us. You know, he's withheld the FEMA money, the disaster money from the fires. We still don't have all our money.

He’s done so many things to target California. I'll tell you what I won't do. I'm not gonna meme him to death. We got big problems, uh, that we've had and that we created long before Trump. But I will take 'em on and I tell people who better to take 'em on than someone who came out the Civil Rights Movement?

I was 15 years old when I got involved in the farm work of Boycott, when I got involved in the Chicano movement, and then later in the overall civil rights movement, I was president of the ACLU Southern California. I was a labor leader at 25 years old. I can tell you this, we will take 'em on where we have to, but you know what?

We can chew gum and rub our tummy at the same time. We gotta focus on the problems we have. I said dead last in graduation, highest rents, highest gas. Among the second highest utilities, which have gone up 60% for the young people here. Utilities are more expensive today than rent was about 12 years ago.

That's how expensive utilities are.

Why him

Mantle: Final question, we have just one minute. Mayor Villaraigosa, what is it about you as a person, not your previous job titles, not your education, but you personally, temperamentally, psychologically, intellectually, that makes you suited to the job of governor?

Villaraigosa: That was psychologically?

Mantle: Yeah. Intellectually, temperamentally. What, what about you as a person makes you suited to this job?

Villaraigosa: I'm a fighter. I fought my whole life. I have the courage of my convictions. When I ran in 1995, in 1994, three-strikes-you’re-out was on the ballot. The death penalty. The vast majority of people were against the death penalty.

187 was on the ballot, the anti-immigrant initiative. I took all three of them on. I've stood for the courage of my convictions, even when it's unpopular and what I tell people, the defining characteristic is not your ability to fight the people that are your opponents or your so-called enemies.

It's taking on your friends when they're wrong. One of your questions was, am I willing to take on my friends? And the answer is yes for you.

Mantle: Thank you, mayor Villaraigosa. We appreciate you being with us here at LMU and on AirTalk.

Villaraigosa: Always great to be with you.

Mantle: Thank you so much.

This transcript has been edited for grammar and clarity.