Article: MAYORAL PROFILE: ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA UNION, POLITICAL LEADER USED TO BEATING THE ODDS.(News)

Byline: Dominic Berbeo Staff Writer

Showing a knack for political success, mayoral candidate and former Assembly speaker Antonio Villaraigosa has found himself in leadership positions at key moments in his career as a union official and elected official.

The trend began after college, when his work for the teachers union thrust him into the center of a raucous 1989 strike that paralyzed the schools. It was a defining moment for the onetime high school dropout.

``The day he walked into this office, everyone knew he was going to go places,'' said John Perez, a vice president with United Teachers Los Angeles who taught history at Roosevelt High, ...

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