Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa voiced dismay on Sunday about the “three weeks of scandal” that enveloped U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-New York), calling the news coverage a circus and saying a greater focus should be placed on the country’s economic needs.

Three days after Weiner resigned in a scandal over sexually provocative text messages, Villaraigosa said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that more emphasis was needed on double-digit unemployment and the plight of Americans threatened with foreclosure.

“For most of us, watching that circus, and the amount of time and air that it consumed," he said, "it feels like you're on another planet.”

The mayor made his remarks one day before giving a major policy speech in Baltimore as president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, calling for the expedited withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and a greater investment in domestic spending. His appearance also came days after he and other Los Angeles officials had to field questions about the text messages of a high-level official at the city’s airport agency.

Last week, Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsey said she had received information that a deputy executive director at the airport, Michael Molina, had sexually explicit content on his city-issued cellphone. She said Molina resigned after she asked him about the allegations.