Newsom taps Villaraigosa for senior role

California Gov. Gavin Newsom today will name one-time rival and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa as infrastructure czar and an adviser, two people briefed on the choice told POLITICO.

The announcement will be made at a press conference on water supply policy in Contra Costa County, California. In the press release announcing the event, Newsom’s office noted that he would be announcing “new leadership for California’s infrastructure effort.”

Villaraigosa served as the mayor of Los Angeles from 2005 to 2013. He ran against Newsom for governor in 2018 in what became an at-times bitter race","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/news/one-time-rivals-gavin-newsom-antonio-villaraigosa-talk-unity-in-race-for-c/","_id":"00000182-8da6-d8e3-a9f6-8fbf01b60004","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000182-8da6-d8e3-a9f6-8fbf01b60005","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">an at-times bitter race. But he finished a distant third — bowing out while calling for Democratic unity.

Since then, the two have talked occasionally about whether there was a role for Villaraigosa to play in the governor’s administration.

There was some buzz in 2021","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook/2021/03/22/all-eyes-on-villaraigosa-gavin-mussolini-the-trio-that-could-take-down-newsom-mccarthys-revised-history-legacy-of-extremism-in-oc-recall-likely-to-qualify-492190","_id":"00000182-8da6-d8e3-a9f6-8fbf01b60006","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000182-8da6-d8e3-a9f6-8fbf01b60007","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">some buzz in 2021 that Villaraigosa would make another run at the gig as a Democratic alternative during the Republican-led effort to recall Newsom. But he didn’t throw his hat in the ring and Newsom ultimately prevailed.

Villaraigosa is currently a partner at the international consulting firm, Actum, LLC. According to one of the two people briefed on the arrangement, Villaraigosa will be paid through an arrangement with the non-profit group California Forward, which focuses on reforming government operations.