EDITORIAL POLITICAL MADNESS VILLARAIGOSA, GREUEL RIGHTLY PEEVED ABOUT SQUANDERING FEDERAL FUNDS.

IF his performance at a Sunday event in West Hills is any indication, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is hopping mad at various local legislators, all fellow Democrats. That's because, through their bungling and foot-dragging, they have snubbed their constituents and jeopardized $130 million in federal funds to build a northbound car-pool lane on the 405 Freeway.

And if history is any indication, we can expect much more bungling - and mayoral outrage - in the years to come.

The $130 million that now risks being lost in this year's federal highway bill is a pittance compared with the $865 million that Congress allocated for statewide special projects in 1998, $478 million of which remains unspent seven years later.

The excuses for what keeps local officials from putting federal funding to use are many: There are environmental hurdles, federal disbursements being spread out over a number of years, appropriations not quite as large as promised. But the main reason is that, for as much as local government officials like to clamor for federal cash, they're reluctant to spend any of their own on purposes that actually serve the public.

So even though Washington fails to give California its fair share of federal funds, the actual sums received often amount to even less. Required state and local matching funds go unmatched, and so roads and highways go unbuilt.

Perhaps the state's continual raiding of gas-tax revenues - which are supposed to pay for transportation projects - has something to do with it. As much as California leaders struggle to come up with cash for infrastructure, they also seem to have plenty on hand for public-employee pay raises or giveaways to some other special interest.

City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel is right to demand that city officials commit to ensuring that local projects get the necessary local funding. We can only hope that those calls go heeded in City Hall, and, for that matter, in the state Legislature.

Otherwise, Villaraigosa and residents throughout Los Angeles and California will find themselves angered and disgusted time and again.