In a very good article, Copley News Service wants to know "Why did Floridians give $179,000 to Villaraigosa?" It isn't exactly clear, but man this seems fishy:

...Villaraigosa received $179,000 from Florida contributors as of April 5, the end of the city's most recent financial reporting period, with one of every six dollars coming from individuals affiliated with Travel Traders [a Miami-based company that operates hotel gift shops]. Yet some of those contributors had difficulty explaining, or simply refused to say, why they gave $1,000 or more to a mayoral campaign 3,000 miles away.

...Told that Los Angeles City Hall campaign records show that he gave Villaraigosa $1,000 on April 1, [one of the Travel Trader contributors] responded: "Wow. You probably called me at a bad time."

"Let me finish typing up my e-mail and then I'll get back to answering your question," said [the contributor], who put the call on hold and did not return, despite a 20-minute wait. He did not respond to follow-up calls.

...Neither the president nor the general manager of Travel Traders returned calls seeking comment about the contributions, which came from all levels of the company, from top executives to a help-desk manager...

...Moments later, [another contributor] told a reporter to call her in 15 minutes. She never came to the telephone in subsequent calls...

...Travel Traders applications manager Curtis McGough hung up the phone after he was asked about his two $1,000 contributions to Villaraigosa. But three others were more open about their support.

...[yet another contributor] said he learned about the candidate during a meeting held by his company in September.

"It was kind of like a meeting about possible business in Los Angeles," said the 25-year-old analyst, who would not provide additional details. "I'm not sure if a fund-raiser is the right word."

It goes on. Of the three who said they supported Villaraigosa, one did so because Magic Johnson endorsed him. Yet, she gave "her" money 10 days before Johnson issued his endorsement. And, she apparently didn't know anything about Villaraigosa. The other supported AV out of racial grounds.

This might have something to do with concessions at LAX. Hopefully there will be a full investigation, but I don't expect much. AV has returned the money from Travel Traders.