MAYOR BACK IN PUBLIC INFIDELITY REMAINS THE DAY'S HOT ISSUE.

Byline: RICK ORLOV

Staff Writer

Even as Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa re-emerged Monday vowing to fix the city's schools and streets after spending the past few days in seclusion, he faced a barrage of questions about his infidelity.

Trying to put last week's firestorm over his extramarital affair with a television news reporter behind him, Villaraigosa announced a grant for charter schools in the morning, then rolled up his sleeves to fill potholes later in the day.

But all anyone wanted to talk about was how he cheated on his wife.

"I am not perfect ... and want to get back to the work the people of Los Angeles elected me to," Villaraigosa said as he found himself once again facing questions about his relationship with Telemundo reporter Mirthala Salinas and the breakup of his 20-year marriage to wife Corina.

"I made a mistake. I've always said that when you do something that undermines your support in some way or causes people to lose faith in you in some way, you've got to get back and accept your responsibility and do your job."

As the questions persisted during the press conference regarding the Green Dot Charter School program, the mayor maintained his composure.

"I've obviously caused a great deal of pain to my family, to many people here. Some people feel let down and I understand that," he said. "What we have to focus on is the job and in making sure we address the critical needs of children."

With that, the mayor moved on to discuss schools, then drove to Eagle Rock to fix some potholes at another well-attended press event -- where the questions about his love life persisted.

"This is exactly what he has to do," said Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. "Pat" Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. "He has to get back and try to rebuild his trust. ... Eating a little humble pie would be good for this mayor."

The public appearance was Villaraigosa's first since he canceled all his press events last week after acknowledging his affair with Salinas in response to questions from the Daily News.

He plans to make similar appearances all week, including a jobs program for youths scheduled for today and the swearing-in ceremony of new community college trustees and an environmental event at the Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday.

"Voters might be angry now, but they tend to forget about it over time," Regalado said. "Maybe not forget, but the anger fades and they become less passionate about it."

Replacing Paris

Meanwhile, Salinas, 35, remains on leave from her job at KVEA, Telemundo's local affiliate, while her bosses investigate possible ethical violations.

She once covered the mayor as a political reporter for the station and was removed from the beat about 11 months ago. But she co-anchored the evening news last month and read the story about Villaraigosa's announcement that he and his wife were divorcing -- without mentioning that she was the other woman.

While Villaraigosa clearly thought Monday was the day to emerge from hiding over the scandal, others criticized the move.

David Diaz, a political science professor in the Department of Chicano Studies at California State University, Northridge, who has followed Villaraigosa from the start of his political career, said it was too soon for the mayor to resume an active public schedule.

"I thought it was a mistake to have a press conference about his divorce and about his girlfriend," Diaz said. "I think he should focus on governing but keep a low profile for the next couple of months and allow some time to elapse.

"The problem he has now, in the minds of the media, is he has replaced Paris Hilton as news and this attention is not going to go away until something juicier comes up. But this story has it all. Sex, sleaze, betrayal, humiliation. It's not going to go away soon."

He added that the impact of the past two weeks will last longer than most expect because of the way Villaraigosa has campaigned in the past.

"The fact is, from his first campaign, he talked about the impact of his wife and his mother on him," Diaz said. "Now, it looks like he is not only disrespecting the woman who stood by him all these years, but now he has subjected her to public humiliation. That doesn't sit well."

rick.orlov(at)dailynews.com

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2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Antonio Villaraigosa emerged Monday to discuss filling potholes in the city.

(2) Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa uses a compactor to level out asphalt while helping to fill a pothole on El Rio Avenue in Eagle Rock on Monday.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer