Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa toured LAX's security systems Tuesday and he even reportedly went through a full-body scanner designed to detect concealed bombs, weapons or contraband. A U.S. Transportation Security Administration official pulled the mayor aside when his scan showed he was (barely) hiding a huge ego … We're just kideen!

Seriously folks, as the city faces a $400 million deficit and at the Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils Coalition has called an emergency summit of its membership to discuss the budget, the mayor is touring the metaphorical sidelines like Manny Pacquiao's next opponent. In December he was in Europe, spending $120,000 of your money. On Monday he was helping to kick off the U.S. Census count locally. Tuesday he was getting his Italian-suit-draped body scanned at LAX for the cameras. Here's a thought: Shouldn't the number-one leader of the city of Los Angeles be the one calling emergency pow-wows on this budget disaster?

We guess not. Mayor V. started 2010 the same way he ended 2009 — by avoiding as much as possible the tough issues (medical marijuana, the city budget, a ballooning city pension mess) facing L.A. and favoring photo ops.

“It's great to start off the new year thinking not only about the past year but also thinking forward,” the mayor said. “Fortunately, here at LAX, we're ahead of the curve on security

measures, making our airport safer. I'm proud to say we're not resting on our laurels.”

Those laurels might not hold up under the weight of Mayor V.'s political ego, and they'd certainly be crushed by the tsunami of red ink facing the city.

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