What Conflict of Interest? Villaraigosa Dating Another Reporterette

I love the reaction of the suits at KTLA to the news that Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is schtupping yet another local newscaster.

A Los Angeles television reporter is dating Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, about two years after his extramarital affair with another local newscaster led to the breakup of his 20-year marriage.

KTLA-TV Channel 5 reporter Lu Parker, a former Miss U.S.A., has been dating Villaraigosa since March, station officials confirmed Monday. On Sunday, while working as a weekend anchor, Parker announced a story about the likelihood of Villaraigosa running for governor in 2010.

"Now that we're aware of the relationship, she will no longer be covering local politics," said KTLA-TV news director Jason Ball, who defended the journalist's ethics but declined to elaborate. "I have the utmost faith in Lu Parker's abilities."

So she's banging the guy for at least three months and they're only aware of it now? Yeah, sure sounds like she's the objective reporter to have faith in.

"There is no concern as to the ethics whatsoever," said Don Corsini, general manager of KTLA-TV, which like The Times is owned by Tribune Co. "As far as I'm concerned, it's a personal matter."

Well, since the LA Times doesn't have any ethics, it's no surprise a station owned by the same company ignores them as well.

What a joke these people are.

Parker's own website contains a video clip of her interviewing Villaraigosa on election night in November about President Obama's election. Her site also includes a photograph of her interviewing Villaraigosa for another story.

During KTLA-TV's 6:30 p.m. newscast Sunday, Parker read a story about doubts raised about Villaraigosa's potential bid for governor.

Villaraigosa's affair with Telemundo KVEA-TV Channel 52 reporter and anchor Mirthala Salinas in 2007 also raised a conflict-of-interest question and created a firestorm of publicity that tainted his first term in office.

During his successful campaign for reelection this year, Villaraigosa continually apologized for the affair.

Salinas, who as a political reporter had covered such mayoral initiatives as his effort to gain control of the Los Angeles Unified School District, later quit after she was suspended for two months and reassigned by Telemundo to the station's Riverside bureau.