Garcetti Won’t Challenge Padilla

Los Angeles City Councilman Alex Padilla was reelected in March without ever facing a challenger.

Now it appears he will have no competition in his bid to keep his post as council president.

It had been widely speculated in City Hall that Councilman Eric Garcetti, who holds the council’s No. 3 post as assistant president, was going to take on Padilla, although Garcetti never said so publicly. But Garcetti spokesman Josh Kamensky said Friday that the councilman does not plan to run for the job.

Kamensky would not confirm that a run was ever in the works, but he did say that Garcetti “always said that he would like to serve his peers.”

Padilla, who was 26 when he was elected to the council in 1999, has been president since 2001 -- a lengthy tenure that has irked some colleagues who believe someone else should have a chance at the job.

The president can, to some degree, control debates in council chambers. More important, the president appoints colleagues to council committees and serves as the acting mayor when needed.

Padilla said he made no deal with Garcetti to stave off a challenge from him. Garcetti, however, could have a chance to seek the post if Padilla decides to run for higher office before his council term expires in 2009.

Padilla represents the council’s 7th District, which covers the northeast San Fernando Valley. State Sen. Richard Alarcon’s district partly overlaps Padilla’s, and Alarcon can’t run again in 2006 because of term limits.

“I just got reelected a couple of months ago, I chose to engage in the mayor’s race and support Antonio Villaraigosa, and now we have the transition,” said Padilla, who would not rule out a run for higher office. “That’s the extent of my focus right now. There are a lot of things going on, and I want to see them come to fruition.”