THE MAYOR AND MIRTHALA

TELEMUNDO NO MAS

RIVERSIDE NO WAY

- BUT-

BEHIND DOOR #1

IS A NEW CAR!

(October 5th, 2007 1:00PM PST)

BY ERIC LONGABARDI

ERS News has been on the story of LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Mirthala Salinas since the start. It all started on July 3rd 2007 and when it will end is anybody's guess. But even before July 3rd, 2007, LA blogger-king Luke Ford (lukeford.net) broke the story that LA's "rockstar" Mayor was playing fast and loose with his marriage. The Mayor was telling what most would call a lie about why he wasn't wearing his wedding ring.

Well we all know the story by now, but the only person we haven't heard from in the entire mess is the woman at the center of the story, Mirthala Salinas. She released one brief PR crafted statement when the scandal first broke and since then it’s been a deafening silence. Where is she? What's she been up too? Just this week, Telemundo, her former employer, expected her to return to work after her two-month suspension for violating conflict of interest and ethical standards in dating the Mayor while also covering him as a journalist. The practice was nothing new for Salinas and her station management. Mirthala had been having romantic relationships with politicians she covered for years. ERS first exposed her relationship with Fabian Nunez, the second most powerful politician in the California. As scandals and stories go, this one ended with a resounding "ho-hum." Salinas never showed up at her new assignment in Riverside and Telemundo and Salina’s "mutually agreed" to part ways.

Salinas has done a great job staying out of the limelight, avoiding the media glare and hiding out from the prying eyes of reporters. Since her secret affair with mayor was exposed, only a single chance run-in with a cell phone cam toting spy for the celebrity website TMZ.com at a mall shopping with her boyfriend, his honor Mayor Villaraigosa. This has been the only glimpse of what was and still is a mostly secret relationship with LA’s Mayor.

The Enterprise Report can report exclusively, that we have known for sometime one of the ways Salinas has been fooling the LA media horde. Although she hasn't fooled ERS, we haven't felt it newsworthy until now to publish this story.

In early August ERSNews was following up on the story about Mirthala Salinas spending a lot of time with Mayor Antonio Villaragisoa at the city's officials Mayor' Residence, Getty House.

Most people were unaware of the car Mirthala was driving because, at the time, she had begun driving a new car when at the start of her forced leave of absence from Telemundo. According to sources, Mirthala fled Los Angeles as the scandal broke. At some point Salinas began driving a new Lexus SUV. The new SUV sports a license cover plate from a dealership in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler, AZ. Salina's has family in the Phoenix area. ERSNews discovered that SUV parked behind the Getty House on Lorraine Blvd. There is a driveway ending at the Tennis court and the Lexus was parked in the driveway. The Lexus was new and had temporary Arizona paper license plates.

One neighbor of the official residence who asked to remain anonymous told ERSNews "she (Mirthala) drives that big Lexus and parks behind the Mayor's house thinking no one will notice her."

Earlier this week ERSNews spotted the same Lexus parked in the parking lot at Mirthla's Studio City condo and we’ve seen it there since. The SUV now sports permanent Arizona plates.

The only problem with this whole scenario is that California law requires anyone bringing a new car into the state, to register the car in California wihin 20 days. So it seems Mirthala or someone assisting her may be breaking the law.

The ERS photo of the new Lexus with temporary Arizona license plates snapped at the Mayor’s Getty House mansion was taken August 10, 2007. The photos of the same car taken outside Salina’s Studio City condo were taken October 3rd 2007.

We here at ERS don’t enforce the automobile laws here in CA, we just report the news, original and exclusive.