LOS ANGELES — Where does the Los Angeles City Council go from here?
Three of its members – including the former Council president – are facing calls from President Joe Biden to resign after a recording surfaced of them participating in a closed-door meeting in which racist language was used to mock colleagues while they schemed to protect Latino political strength in Council districts.
Three current or former Council members have been indicted or pleaded guilty to corruption charges, and it’s possible resignations in coming days could create new vacancies.
The current mayor, Democrat Eric Garcetti, was named last year to become U.S. ambassador to India but the nomination appears stalled in the Senate because of sexual harassment allegations against one of his former top aides. Elections next month will bring a new mayor and several Council members.
In the short term, it’s a looming question if the Council can assemble the required 10 members — out of 15 total — to conduct business on Wednesday, when coincidentally Biden will be in town.
“I have never seen anything like this,” said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles.
“That’s the real challenge now, to kind of get to where they are going to conduct business on a regular basis,” Sonenshein said. “This chaotic situation is going to be very visible … both here and nationally.”
The Council will attempt to reconvene Wednesday, possibly to censure the three members cited by Biden. A Tuesday meeting was nearly derailed when a raucous crowd of protesters packed the chamber, calling for the resignation of those involved in the meeting — former City Council President Nury Martinez, who is taking a leave of absence, and Councilmen Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo, all Democrats.
The Council cannot expel the members — it can only suspend a member when criminal charges are pending.
A censure does not result in suspension or removal from office.
The uproar was triggered by a leaked recording of crude, racist comments from a nearly year-old meeting, which also provided an unvarnished look into City Hall’s racial rivalries. Those involved in the meeting were all Latinos.
Martinez said in the recorded conversation that white Councilmember Mike Bonin handled his young Black son as if he were an “accessory” and said of his son “Parece changuito,” or “he’s like a monkey,” the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. She also referred to Bonin as a “little bitch.”
At another point on the hourlong recording, Martinez, the first Latina appointed president of the City Council, called indigenous immigrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca “tan feos,” or “so ugly.”
The discussion — which also included a powerful Latino labor leader, who has since resigned — centered on protecting Latino political power during the redrawing of council district boundaries, known as redistricting. The once-a-decade process can pit one group against another to gain political advantage in future elections.
At the ornate Council chamber, an overflow crowd of protesters delayed the start of Tuesday’s meeting as they angrily shouted for de Leon and Cedillo to leave the room. Police officers scurried at the edge of the crowd.