You have to give it up for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, he knows what he likes in a woman and he’s going to stick to it. About two years ago, a scandal erupted in Los Angeles when it was discovered the then married mayor was having an affair with a local TV reporter from one of the Spanish stations. Talk radio had a field day, the city’s business was on hold for a few weeks while speculation swirled around what the mayor was going to do. Just for good measure, there was a look into her past and it seemed she had a tendency of dating politicians, working her way up the ladder to the mayor.

The mayor and the reporter broke up a few months later, after she was demoted and he, probably realizing it wouldn’t look good to have a mistress or a reporter scandal going on while trying to get into the national spotlight, focused more on his career than the relationship.

Well, it seems the mayor is at it again. Recent reports confirm since March he has dated Lu Parker, another local reporter. Just like with Mirthala Salinas, his first brush with reporter dating, a lot of interesting questions come up about ethics. Like in the Salinas relationship, the Parker relationship came out in the open after the reporter talked about a story about the mayor. While the report was pedestrian, it gives the impression of influence if the mayor is dating the person delivering the story.

Think about it, if I’m a reporter trying to get a scoop on the mayor, I would go to his main squeeze for information, especially if she’s a colleague. A worse case scenario, what if his girlfriend finds out some information? If she tells the news staff that would loom bad and if she withholds information it looks bad. In both cases of the news reporting, there was no indication either woman had inside information about the stories they had about the mayor, but the appearance looks bad.

I don’t get stories like this on a number of levels. I assume the mayor wants to have a political career, since many have said he would like to be governor. Considering the pedestal we like to put our public officials on, it doesn’t make sense to me that after dodging, it seems, a rather nasty scandal with Salinas, why would he get together with another reporter? I’m still not sure if the divorce is final from his wife, but why risk his political career on dating another reporter? From her end, considering what happened with Salinas, why would she risk her career by having a relationship with the mayor? There was a cover story in LA magazine in June of last year with Salinas. As the article and headline aptly pointed out, here was a woman with a good path to a career as a reporter, she had a plumb assignment with Telemundo and she was covering a city where a Hispanic reporter, with the connections that can come with a town like Los Angeles, could really make a name for themselves. Because of the relationship and the aftermath, she was labeled on the cover of the magazine as the Mayor’s mistress. She is remembered, maybe for not breaking up the mayor’s marriage but everyone knew he was married and she had the affair which ended the marriage, which also affected the lives of his children. Culturally, it’s amazing she is still able to get a job in broadcasting (she is working for a small radio station now.)

That could be the fate of Parker. Now, yes, I can see where love is in the air and you can throw caution to the wind, but I see that if these were ‘normal’ people. We’re talking seasoned people who know perception can be more important than fact and with the mayor in another relationship with a reporter, with both sides with eyes open, the next few months could be fun for the gossip pundits in the Los Angeles area. It will be interesting to see how this might affect the mayor’s chances for higher office and her rise in journalism.