Ex-L.A. mayor made over $1M a year after leaving office
Gubernatorial candidate’s income skyrocketed as consultant, tax records say
Former Los Angeles mayor and governor hopeful Antonio Villaraigosa saw his income soar in the years after he left the mayor’s office, thanks to big consulting contracts with companies like Herbalife and Cadiz, according to tax returns released by his campaign on Tuesday.
Villaraigosa made an average total income of $893,883 per year between 2011 and 2016, and paid an average combined state and federal tax bill of $362,201 per year, for an average combined tax rate of about 40 percent — or 44 percent after deductions and credits.
He’s the last of the four Democrats in the 2018 governor’s race to release six years of his returns.
As mayor, Villaraigosa made just under $200,000 a year. After leaving City Hall, he received an annual salary of about $100,000 from the University of Southern California, where he was a professor until December 2015.
But his biggest income since he left the mayor’s office in July 2013 has been from his consulting firm, Antonio R. Villaraigosa LLC. He reported making more than a million dollars in consulting fees each year in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
That income came from several controversial clients. From 2013 to 2016, he consulted for Herbalife International, a nutritional supplement company that settled with federal authorities last year after accusations that it deceived consumers. He also consulted in 2013 and 2014 for Cadiz Inc., a company working on a water-pumping project in the Mojave Desert that has been stren-
uously opposed by other Democrats like Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
Other Villaraigosa clients include Banc of California, Pro Tour Memorabilia LLC — a golf memorabilia and interior design company — and USA China Investments, an investment group.
His campaign provided a list of the firm’s clients between 2013 and 2017, but only released the specific amount each client paid Villaraigosa in 2013. Some information about the 2016 payments he received will be made available in March on his public financial disclosure form, a spokeswoman said.
In 2013, Villaraigosa — who listed his occupation as
“consultant” — reported receiving $162,500 from Herbalife, $150,000 from the Banc of California, and $50,000 from Cadiz, among other payments. He also made $90,800 through speaking engagements arranged by the Harry Walker Agency.
Villaraigosa has also received just under $100,000 a year in his pension from Los Angeles since leaving office. And he reported receiving small amounts in rental income from a house in Moreno Valley, a Riverside County suburb, before selling it in 2014. He sold the property for $110,000, for a capital gain of $58,480.
He reported no charitable donations in 2011, 2012 or 2013, and then an average of $9,978 in donations each year in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He gave to groups like the Wounded Warrior Project, Partnership for Los Angeles
Schools, and Planned Parenthood.
Villaraigosa’s returns show he’s had the secondhighest income in recent years among the four Democrats running for governor. Lt. Gov Gavin Newsom and his wife made about $1.4 million annually from wineries and other investments, State Treasurer John Chiang and his wife made about $185,000, largely from his government salary, and former state schools chief Delaine Eastin made about $170,000, mostly from her state pension and other investments.
Villaraigosa also made an average alimony payment of $33,065 each year to his first wife, Corina Villaraigosa. The two divorced in 2007 following an affair Villaraigosa had with TV reporter Mirthala Salinas. He filed jointly in 2016 with his
second wife, Patricia Villaraigosa, who he married that year.
The former L.A. mayor has a toehold in show business, reporting $2,446 in wages in 2016 from Cast and Crew Talent Services, a payment associated with cameos on the George Lopez Show. He also received a payment from the Screen Actors Guild for his appearances.
The six years of his tax returns were made available for reporters to review at the San Francisco office of a political consulting firm working on his campaign, but were not allowed to be photographed or copied.
Republican candidates Travis Allen, a state Assemblyman, and John Cox, a businessman, haven’t said whether they will release their tax returns. The Bay Area News Group reported earlier this year that Allen
was several years late in paying $42,000 in federal income tax.
Tax returns have become a political issue in California this year. A bill to require presidential candidates to release their tax returns passed the state Legislature in September. The bill was inspired by President Donald Trump’s refusal to release his returns, but the measure was vetoed by Gov. Jerry Brown. All four Democrats in the 2018 governor’s race have said they support that bill. Brown and his Republican opponents declined to release their own tax returns during the 2010 and 2014 gubernatorial campaigns, although Brown released his during previous campaigns in the 1970s.