Antonio Villaraigosa and Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom are both infamous for a variety of reasons.
However, they are both infamous for their extramarital affairs.
In 2007, Villaraigosa split from his wife following over twenty years of marriage due to his relationship with a television reporter.
Newsom also has a tangled past, as it was discovered that he had a relationship with his appointments secretary, who was also his deputy chief of staff's wife.
Now, in what appears to be a gentleman's agreement to completely ignore the subject during their competition for the gubernatorial office, both men have hired strategists that have intimate knowledge of the other man's past relationships.
Villaraigosa has hired Eric Jaye. Jaye was Newsom’s chief political strategist during his time as the mayor of San Francisco.
Newsom has hired Sean Clegg. Clegg was Villaraigosa's deputy mayor in Los Angeles when his affair was discovered.
Now, although nondisclosure agreements mean that Jaye and Clegg can't actually tell their new bosses any details about their own former bosses, it is understood that both men know enough.
Rose Kapolczynski is a veteran Democratic strategist.
She said, "One of the first rules of campaigns is know thy enemy as you know yourself. The more you understand not only their positions on the issues and their vulnerabilities, but how they’ll react, the more it gives you an edge."
She continued, "You have an advantage any time you can do something unexpected that your opponent won’t know how to react to, and these guys have a deep understanding of how their former bosses [and] current rivals will react under pressure."
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