I want to thank the people of Los Angeles for giving me the opportunity to serve as their elected representative these past two and a half decades, he said. The leaked audio recording of racist remarks made by the Los Angeles City Council president has stunned the sprawling city, eliciting a fury that extended to its increasingly tight race for mayor between Rick Caruso, a white billionaire developer on the police commission, and Representative Karen Bass, who is Black and has represented the city in the Legislature and Congress for many years. City Council member for the First District; due to leave office when his term ends in December after a primary defeat in June. Still, Black Angelenos are leaving the city as many are priced out of the communities they have built over decades. She also called Oaxacan immigrants living in Koreatown little short dark people., At another point in the private conversation, Ms. Martinez used an expletive in reference to the Los Angeles County district attorney, George Gascn, saying that hes with the Blacks.. The Los Angeles Times initially reported a couple of leaked audio recording from an October 2021 assembly, in which Martinez, council members Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Len and L.A. County Labor Federation President Ron Herrera made a number of controversial and racist remarks. During the conversation, Ms. Martinez also weighed in on a dispute between two Black council members over whose district would include Exposition Park and the University of Southern California. The audio recording captured a conversation between City Council president Nury Martinez, fellow councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Len, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (colloquially referred to as the "Fed") President Ron Herrera. He said in a statement on Monday that words matter, and racist language can do real harm, and added that he was encouraged that those involved in this have apologized and begun to take responsibility for their actions, but did not specifically call for any resignations. O'Farrell said the only path forward is through their resignation or a recall election in the case of de Leon, whose term ends in 2024. On Monday, Mr. Cedillo issued this statement: I want to start by apologizing. Rachel Uranga covers transportation and mobility for the Los Angeles Times. We've seen over-investment and development in luxury housing, but the average median income in this district is $32,000 a year. LA Times on 2022-06-15 03:16 Eunisses Hernandez pulls ahead of Gil Cedillo in tight L.A. Council race . It is my instinct to hold others accountable when they use derogatory or racially divisive language. Over the decades, the assorted constituencies have tried to develop a coalition style of politics based on common interests in the heavily Democratic city, but, beneath that veneer, the reality often has been a quest for power and political spoils. She called them little short dark people, not short little dark people.. [17][18] The motion was opposed by Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Mike Bonin, who instead proposed instructing the city attorney to find eligibility requirements for appointments. Mr. Cedillo and Mr. de Len also have resisted calls for them to step down from their council seats. I hope that you will give me the opportunity to make amends. Voters will decide on June 7, 2022, between Cedillo and newcomer Eunisses Hernandez, a lifelong resident of the district who has criticized the incumbent for siding with luxury developers over communities he represents. She's not our ally. Cedillo ended by claiming that there is a "modern version of McCarthyism" which is a danger to democracy, "not a defense.". Track SoCal rain with LIVE Megadoppler 7000 HD. "These members have lost all credibility, all standing," O'Farrell said at a City Hall news conference. The profanity-laced recording of Los Angeles leaders mocking people in racist terms has stunned the nations second-largest city. Councilman Mike Bonin, whose Black son was the target of racist comments on the recording, tried to calm the crowd. His statement was issued jointly with his husband, Sean Arian. This hateful and racist conversation set us back, he said. [24] He refused to do so, and served as acting president until Paul Krekorian was elected as the new council president. Prominent leaders call for the people involved to resign their posts. Therefore, effective immediately I am resigning as president of the Los Angeles City Council. According to his plea, Mr. Englander accepted gifts and bribes from a businessman and then lied to F.B.I. Amid the boiling City Council scandal, Los Angeles mayoral candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso are scheduled to hold their final live televised debate at 7 p.m. Pacific in Universal City. My work speaks for itself. The next day on October 10, 2022, Martinez resigned her presidency position but remained in her city council seat, as did the other city council members, despite numerous prominent calls for them to step down. Oaxaca is a Mexican state that has a high percentage of indigenous population, mostly of Zapotec origin, and Oaxacans are also represented in immigrant communities in Los Angeles. Mr. Bonin also said those residents told him about coordinated efforts to weaken progressives voices and undermine people trying to build multiracial coalitions in Los Angeles. He is condemning the racist comments and political maneuvering of his colleagues. Nury Martinez resigned from the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday in the fallout of leaked audio by which she and two different councilmembers made racist remarks. I am truly ashamed. In a highly unusual outcome for Los Angeles City Council, progressive activist Eunisses Hernandez appears to have unseated Eastside city councilman, Gil Cedillo, getting more than 2,000 votes over the incumbent. Los Angeless outgoing mayor, Eric Garcetti, was nominated by President Biden to be the American Ambassador to India in June 2021. In the past, Los Angeles elected its mayors in odd-numbered years, which deeply depressed voter turnout, particularly among Latinos. There are no excuses, he said. I really dont. By remaining on the council until his term expired, Cedillo collected his full salary of over $8,000 every two weeks despite not attending a council meeting after Oct. 11. Complicating matters further, Krekorian tested positive for the coronavirus over the weekend, raising the prospect that a continued outbreak among councilmembers could force the body to meet several more days via Zoom. In the profanity-laced recording, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times and which was first reported by The Los Angeles Times on Sunday, the City Council president, Nury Martinez, who is Latina, compared the Black child of a white council member to a changuito, Spanish for little monkey. Ms. Martinez, who is not up for re-election until 2024, added that Nithya Raman, a council member of South Asian descent, should not represent Koreatown, which is now largely Latino. On Tuesday, Ms. Martinez said she would take a leave of absence from the City Council: This has been one of the most difficult times of my life and I recognize this is entirely of my own making, At this moment, I need to take a leave of absence and take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders. Ms. Martinez, who is heard in the recording disparaging the Black child of a white fellow council member, as well as Indigenous immigrants in the citys Koreatown neighborhood, gave up her role as president of the Council and announced a leave of absence, but did not relinquish her seat. Public comments have concluded after several hours of calls for resignations, and now Mitch OFarrell, the council member chairing the meeting, is speaking. But she stopped short of resigning from the council, despite calls for her and the two other members to do so from Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, both of the candidates running to replace him, President Biden and many other prominent Democratic officials. He lost in the primary on June 7, 2022. Gilbert Anthony Cedillo (born March 25, 1954) is an American politician, who served as a member of the Los Angeles City Council for the 1st district from 2013 to 2022. "There's many people in our district who are not going to last another four years under the same leadership. The only recourse is resignation or recall, he said. Marqueece Harris-Dawson, a Black City Council member, who said he planned to call for an investigation into whether the recorded conversation, which was about redistricting, violated state transparency laws or the federal Voting Rights Act. Hernandez ran a grassroots campaign that knocked on 64,000 doors and was outspent by her opponent and attacked by special interest groups like the union representing LAPD officers. Cedillo, 68, had served on the council since 2013. Former City Councilman Gil Cedillo defends decision not to step down from LA City Council over participation in a racist conversation from 2021. . In the furor over the racist leaked audio, calls are growing for the city to throw out the boundary lines drawn last year for the councils 15 districts. Gil Cedillo, fuera! Because the Los Angeles County Registrar and Recorder does not identify which parts of Los Angeles still have uncounted ballots, the outcome of close races have been hard to call. He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go on trial in May. I cant forgive them, because its not my prerogative. He did not elaborate on what that might mean. I ask for forgiveness from my colleagues and from the residents of this city that I love so much. The council, he said, needs someone who can push for reforms that will rebuild public trust. Raman is up for re-election in 2024. October 13, 2022. Incidentally, that same investigation has touched Los Angeles mayoral candidate and current congresswoman, Karen Bass. The progressive community activist has her sights set on reshaping several key city institutions. Speaker after speaker in the soaring City Council chambers has called for the resignation of the three council members who participated in the meeting where racist remarks were made. a recorded conversation laced with racist remarks. It was also unclear who had made the recording, which was initially uploaded to Reddit earlier this month by an unidentified, now-suspended user and continued to circulate via email after the post was taken down. Later, during the meeting, Mr. Bonin said through tears: I take a lot of hits, and I know I practically invite a bunch of them. [49], In December 2022, de Len became involved in a fight with protestors at a community event. Since none were under indictment, they could only be removed from office by a voter-initiated recall. Kevin de Len, left, and Nury Martinez during a Los Angeles City Council meeting last week. Those remarks echoed long-held complaints about representation and power in the city. Eunisses Hernandez, who appears to have unseated Gil Cedillo on the Los Angeles City Council, hopes to shift funding priorities for the LAPD and other agencies. Atty. David Zahniser covers Los Angeles City Hall for the Los Angeles Times. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Councilmember-elect Eunisses Hernandez, who defeated Gil Cedillo in June, stands behind Bonin. ", "Paul Krekorian voted in as LA City Council President after Nury Martinez's resignation", "McOsker, Yaroslavsky, Soto-Martinez win L.A. council races", "Editorial: Resign, Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin de Len and Gil Cedillo", "CD11 Candidate Traci Park Rejects Endorsement of Martinez, Cedillo", "Op-Ed: Nury Martinez says out loud the racism and colorism my vibrant Oaxacan community endures", "Political futures in jeopardy amid mounting calls for L.A. City Council members to resign", "CA/HI NAACP and Los Angeles NAACP Call on the Resignation of All Involved in Racist LA City Council Conversation", "L.A. City Council member Nury Martinez to take leave of absence", "ANCA-WR Strongly Condemns Racist Remarks Made by LA City Council Members", "SAG-AFTRA Joins Chorus Calling For L.A. City Council Resignations In Wake Of Leaked Tape", "After racist leaked recording, Los Angeles City Council president takes leave; Biden calls for resignations", "Gov. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) By Julia Wick , Benjamin Oreskes Oct. 21, 2022 5 AM PT Two days. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The server responded with {{status_text}} (code {{status_code}}). Tuesday's agenda includes several items related to the incendiary recording made during a private meeting about the contentious issue of redrawing council districts, which can give some lawmakers significant power and dilute the influence of others and by extension, disenfranchise the ethnic or racial groups they represent. They revealed a plot to "buy" the support of several progressive non-profits and Democratic clubs, including the LA County Young Democrats and Stonewall Democratic Club (which Cho refers to as "the LGBT one"), in an effort to help O'Farrell defeat his challenger Hugo Soto-Martinez in the November 2022 runoff election. The imbroglio engulfing Los Angeles after a leaked audio recording revealed racist and disparaging remarks made by the City Council president in a meeting with two other council members last year is only the latest in a string of scandals to have hit City Hall in just the past few years. De Len and Cedillo have given no indication in recent days that they intend to resign in the aftermath of The Times reporting on the leaked audio, which was recorded during a meeting at the L.A. County Federation of Labor headquarters in October 2021. LA Times on 2022-10-15 14:04 Column: From Latino lion to Chicanosaurus: The sad fall of Gil Cedillo . Acting Council President Mitch O'Farrell removed Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon from committee chairmanships and assignments and named them instead to a board that rarely meets as he turned up the heat on the veteran Democratic politicians. She was additionally heard making racially disparaging remarks within the context of discussions over the redistricting of City Council seats. Acting Los Angeles City Council President Mitch O'Farrell discusses the ongoing scandal a week after a leaked recording of racist remarks by council members came to light during a news conference at City Hall in Los Angeles on Monday, Oct. 17, 2022. Latinos make up about half of the citys 3.8 million people but hold only about a third of the seats on the council. Cedillo evaded questions about whether or not he would resign. This has been one of the most difficult times of my life and I recognize this is entirely of my own making, she said in a statement, adding that she needed to take some time to have an honest and heartfelt conversation with my family, my constituents, and community leaders. Martinez dominated the conversation, using profanity and racist slurs as she aired personal grievances. Martinez wasn't able to recall the last name and Cedillo replied "It ends in i-a-n, I bet you."[16]. Mr. Ridley-Thomas has pleaded not guilty. The recording has also derailed their personal ambitions. White Angelenos, with more than 28 percent of the population, have long controlled much of the citys wealth and power. A citizen advisory committee conducts Los Angeless redistricting process and recommends maps, but unlike Californias statewide line-drawing by an independent commission the final boundaries are determined by the City Council. Inside, the cacophonous demonstration was so relentless and deafening that the council members recessed, hoping, in vain, for calm. The Justice Department recently said that Ms. Bass is not a target or a subject of our offices investigation. Nonetheless, the issue has come up repeatedly in the heated mayoral race. He also compared calls for him to resign to "cancel culture" and "McCarthyism. Oct. 17, 2022 Updated 8:15 PM PT The Los Angeles City Council struggled on Monday to find a way out of the crisis that has engulfed City Hall over the last week, with two embattled. Elizabeth Chou has reported on Los Angeles City Hall government and politics since 2013, first with City News Service, and now the Los Angeles Daily News since the end of 2016. In addition to electing a new president Tuesday to replace Martinez, the council is scheduled to discuss a charter reform proposal that would add more seats to the City Council to increase representation and decentralize power. Here are some of the prominent figures who have called for resignations. Ms. Martinez said Monday she would no longer serve as council president and then took a leave of absence Tuesday before a regularly scheduled council meeting. In the ensuing exchange, Mr. de Len referred to Mr. Bonin as the councils fourth Black member and joked with Ms. Martinez that Mr. Bonin carried his adopted son, who is Black, as if the toddler were a designer handbag. An angry crowd seething with demands for justice and the resignation of three City Council members involved in a recorded conversation laced with racist remarks fell to a hush at Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday when Mike Bonin began to speak. "[31], A number of prominent politicians called for all three councilmembers to resign, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, former Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, U.S. Im sorry to your entire family for putting you through this. She added "tan feos," Spanish for "They're ugly. "But the activists, they're there 24/7. [30], Miriham Antonio, a community advocate and law student, wrote an op-ed piece for the LA Times discussing the "racism and colorism my vibrant Oaxacan community endures. If the council does appoint somebody, that particular person might only serve until mid-December, at which level it must call a special election. Clearly, I should have intervened. Ms. Martinez complained that on a parade float on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Mr. Bonin had failed to control his son and said that the childs antics had nearly tipped the float over. I am prepared to do that job if the members want me to serve in that position, he said. He is someone that has helped to bridge a divide in his own district, she said. By losing committee assignments, their influence in City Hall has dwindled and they have largely become token figures, unable to participate in the day-to-day work of the council and unwanted in council chambers where their appearance is likely to cause an uproar. For that I am sorry. 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