Last month we accused Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of “acting like a lame duck as he let the gubernatorial race pass him by.” In January we said “WTF” to the mayor's announcement — made as a historic city budget crisis loomed — that he was “at a great place” thanks to yoga, dieting and a new love in his life. The next month we noted, “When he's not jetting to Europe, taking yoga classes and walking the red carpet at the Grammy Awards, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa acts part-time.” Villaraigosa actually appeared in an episode of All My Children. The budget crisis didn't get better.

Well, on Sunday the Los Angeles Daily News took this mayoral dissatisfaction to its logical conclusion, editorializing that Mayor V. is straight-up 'AWOL:'

Just one year into his second term, with no big election or high-powered appointment to look forward to, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa seems to have run out of steam. He's acting like a lame-duck official – but with three years still to go. The passion and energy that propelled him into office, and turned his July 2005 inauguration into a celebration befitting a head of state, is all but gone at a time when the city is in crisis and needs it most.

The truth of the matter is that, if it's not a launch pad to the governor's office or a similarly lofty job, Villaraigosa has gotten all of the TV time, free tickets, and billionaire bro-downs he's going to get out of this gig. Because it's not what he can do for L.A., but what the office of mayor can do for Villaraigosa.

Read more from the Daily News.

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