The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to censure three Democrat members who were caught on tape in a racist conversation last fall about redrawing the council’s districts.
The censure applied to members Gil Cedillo, Kevin de Léon, and Nury Martinez. Martinez, who made most of the racist remarks, resigned her position as president of the City Council and also resigned her seat. De Léon and Cedillo have refused to resign, though De Léon’s ambitious political career is likely over.
The Los Angeles Times reported:
Before the vote, police officers cleared the council chamber of about two dozen protesters who were demanding that the council stop meeting until Cedillo and De León resigned. The police issued a dispersal order to empty the room, a tactic usually reserved for handling street protests, and demonstrators eventually filed out.
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Under City Charter rules adopted in 2000, the council may, by a two-thirds vote, adopt a resolution of censure against members whose actions “constitute gross failure to meet the high standards of personal and professional conduct.”
City Council President Paul Krekorian said he wants the council to confer with its lawyers on whether there are other steps it can take to remove De León.
Democrats, particularly in deep-blue urban areas such as Los Angeles, have tried to cast Republicans and supporters of Donald Trump as racists or “semi-fascists,” in the words of President Joe Biden. However, the scandal surrounding the L.A. City Council suggests that bigotry is alive and well in Democratic Party strongholds — including among so-called “progressive” leaders.
The controversy may affect the ongoing mayoral race, where challenger Rick Caruso has argued that racism on the City Council requires a thorough change in leadership. He caught Democrat establishment favorite Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA) in a recent poll.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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