Antonio Villaraigosa

Antonio Villaraigosa is a Democrat who has been Los Angeles' 41st mayor since July 1, 2005. He was President of the United States Conference of Mayors in 2011-2012. He has previously been the Democratic leader and Speaker of the California State Assembly and a member of the Los Angeles City Council. He was also Chairman of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in September 2012. In the past, he was a union organizer for the Service Employees International Union and United Teachers Los Angeles, and then President of the Los Angeles chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Federation of Government Employees.

Ties to Pete Peterson's "Fix the Debt"
The Campaign to Fix the Debt is the latest incarnation of a decades-long effort by former Nixon man turned Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson to slash earned benefit programs such as Social Security and Medicare under the guise of fixing the nation's "debt problem."

Villaraigosa is on Fix the Debt's steering committee. In a statement about his controversial support of Fix the Debt (which he has been asked to drop, in a petition bearing more than 20,000 signatures as of December 11, 2012), he said, "I believe we can -- and must -- reform Social Security and Medicare as part of a balanced approach to the nation’s fiscal challenges. These reforms are needed to strengthen our essential entitlement programs for generations to come."

This article is part of the Center for Media and Democracy's investigation of Pete Peterson's Campaign to "Fix the Debt." Please visit our main SourceWatch page on Fix the Debt.

Other Ties

 * Director, Institute for America's Future
 * Advisory Board, Liberty Hill Foundation

Featured SourceWatch Articles on Fix the Debt

 * Fix the Debt Portal Page
 * Fix the Debt's Leadership
 * Fix the Debt's Partner Groups
 * Fix the Debt's State Chapters
 * Fix the Debt's Lobbyists
 * Fix the Debt's Parent Group
 * Fix the Debt's Corporations
 * Pete Peterson
 * Peter G. Peterson Foundation
 * America Speaks
 * Simpson-Bowles Commission
 * Erskine Bowles
 * Alan Simpson
 * Social Security
 * Medicare
 * Medicaid