LOS ANGELES (CN) — A leaked audio recording of an expletive-filled meeting between three Los Angeles City Council members and a labor leader, who can be heard making numerous racist slurs, some about their City Hall colleagues, has sent shockwaves through LA's political establishment.
On Monday, the day after the news broke, City Council President Nury Martinez announced she was stepping down as president. Many Southern California politicians, including Mayor Eric Garcetti, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla and both mayoral candidates have called for the three council members — Martinez, Kevin de Leon, and Gil Cedillo — to resign from office, as has the Los Angeles Times editorial board.
The 80-minute audio clip, which has been uploaded to YouTube by the progressive news site KnockLA, provides a rare peak into the coarse, cynical and mean ways in which the city's elected officials relate to one another. The four Latino officials speak openly and cynically about defending their political turf from their enemies — namely, from Black and white politicians.
Referring to progressive District Attorney George Gascón, Martinez says, "Fuck that guy. He's with the Blacks."
Martinez calls progressive City Councilman Mike Bonin, a white gay man, a "little bitch." Perhaps the most shocking part of the conversation is when it turns to Bonin's adopted son, who is Black, whom they seem to suggest Bonin is parenting too leniently.
"They're raising him like a little white kid," Martinez says. "I was like, this kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back.” Martinez, who at times uses Spanish phrases while speaking, describes the child as "parece changuito," or "like a monkey."
The recording reveals Martinez and De Leon, a recent candidate for U.S. Senate and mayor, to be fixated on racial resentments, returning to the theme over and over again.
"It's the white members on this council that will motherfuck you in a heartbeat," Martinez says, referring to the potential of City Controller Ron Galperin to stop paying suspended City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas' salary — which he did do. "That's what they do."
De Leon agrees, comparing the situation to when his former colleague in the Legislature, Tony Mendoza, was accused of sexual harassment.
"The white folks will cut you in a heartbeat," De Leon says. "And then when it's them, they figure out some shit."
"They get a PR firm," Martinez agrees. "They get the best attorneys."
The council members go on to insult Armenians, a few other City Council members, even a reporter for the LA Times, whom Martinez calls a "fucking little piece of shit."
According to the Times, which first reported on the leaked audio, the conversation first took place in mid-October 2021 at the offices of the LA County Federation of Labor, ), an umbrella group that represents most unions in the city, and also included the head of that group, Rob Herrera (who resigned from his post Monday night. A federation spokesperson told the Times that the recording was part of a "serious security and privacy breach" at the federation's offices involving “illegal” recordings of “many private and confidential conversations in private offices and conference rooms."
It was uploaded to the site Reddit by an anonymous user, along with the caption, "Wow, you know it happens, but when you actually hear it, it’s unbelievable... The labor movement is in bed with City Hall.”
Much of the conversation revolves around the subject of redistricting. Though the state of California now has an independent redistricting commission for federal and statewide offices, the city's process is still controlled by the mayor and the City Council, leading to all manner of political machinations and backbiting. The more powerful council members are typically able to draw districts that ensure their easy reelection, or the easy election of their preferred successor. For Latino politicians, that often means drawing districts with a heavily Latino majority.