Los Angeles City Hall budget fight escalates

Villaraigosa started the day by promising to veto plans by the council to spend money from its discretionary accounts. The council ignored that warning, allocating $389,000 for a new park in the San Fernando Valley and $95,000 for sidewalk repairs in South Los Angeles.

After the votes, council President Eric Garcetti defended both projects and said city lawyers concluded that the mayor has no power to veto such expenditures. "It just seems like a case of bad research and bad knowledge by the mayor," Garcetti said.

Villaraigosa's budget aide, Deputy Chief of Staff Matt Szabo, sat in the audience and, as those votes were cast, signaled that as many as three expenditures could become the subject of a veto.

Villaraigosa spokeswoman Sarah Hamilton said in an e-mail to The Times that the council actions were rewritten in a way that left the mayor with nothing to sign or veto. The mayor is "disappointed that the council continues to spend money the city does not have," she wrote.

The exchange reflected the deteriorating relations between a council and a mayor who have mostly avoided criticizing each other publicly. Villaraigosa said he is acting in the best interests of the city. Council members, including some who have traditionally been the mayor's allies, have begun asking whether he is trying to shift blame for the crisis away from himself and toward them.

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