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Villaraigosa Gets Desperate

Antonio Villaraigosa / AP

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is reportedly desperate for work and money after his mayoral term ends June 30 despite being the second highest paid mayor, earning $1,682,937 during his eight years in office.

Villaraigosa has had a troubled financial history. He was forced to pay $42,000 in fines levied by the California Fair Political Practices commission after he accepted free sports and entertainment tickets.

With a little more than a month until he must leave office, Villaraigosa has no major assets or income and has approached Bill O’Reilly about working at Fox News, as reported by LA Weekly:

Then Villaraigosa loudly asked O'Reilly for help landing an on-camera job. Villaraigosa said he wanted "to speak to [Fox News CEO] Roger Ailes" about "going to work" at the network. O'Reilly appeared genial, but his response could not be heard… "He doesn't have a car to drive," says influential City Hall lobbyist Harvey Englander, "he doesn't have a place to live — and he needs a lot of money." Close associates and City Hall insiders, on and off the record, concur that Villaraigosa, the second-highest-paid mayor in the country, at $232,735 a year, is broke — and has next to nothing lined up.

While he chaired the Democratic National Convention in 2012, Villaraigosa changed the party’s platform to include Jerusalem and God in a controversial voice vote. He was rumored to be a leading contender to replace Ray LaHood as the secretary of transportation. Villaraigosa is also famous for partying with Charlie Sheen and having relationships with two different news anchors.