It’s been almost two years since secretly recorded conversations between Los Angeles political figures rocked City Hall, but what has really changed?
Indeed, then-City Council President Nury Martinez, who despised Oaxacans and called black boys monkeys, resigned and distanced himself from politics. However, Gil Cedillo, who claimed in a recording that the three City Council districts held by black councilors were actually “Latino seats,” has served out the remainder of his term and is now hosting events from Latino cultural events like Chicanos. I’m walking around. Paris. ”
Meanwhile, City Councilman Kevin de Leon — who said during an hour-long conversation that black political power is as fake as the Wizard of Oz — is running for re-election. Ron Herrera resigned as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor in the wake of the Times report, but has returned to public life, donating to De Leon’s campaign and appearing at debates. .
And now, one of the recurring themes in their vulgar, racist chats – that Latinos don’t have enough voting rights in Los Angeles – apparently has a powerful advocate in California Atty. It seems that there is. General Rob Bonta.
As my colleagues David Zahnizer and Dakota Smith first reported, Bonta is urging city officials to redraw city council district boundaries before the 2026 primary. A top California lawyer said maps approved by the City Council three years ago do not provide Latino residents in some districts with “an opportunity to elect candidates of their choice,” according to officials. expressed concern.
A spokesperson for Mr. Bonta’s office said that Mr. Bonta was “unable to comment” on the column. At a voting rights news conference Friday at the Central Library in downtown Los Angeles, Bonta said only that the investigation is ongoing and that he “looks forward to the time” when he can say more. Ta.
Although Latinos make up nearly half of L.A.’s population, they only hold one-third of the city’s 15 seats on the City Council. The lack of Latino representation has been an embarrassment to the city’s citizens since Ed Roybal became the first Latino city council member in the modern era in 1949.
Vote disenfranchisement campaigns, political structures, voting rights lawsuits, protests—activists and politicians have been trying to achieve fairness at City Hall, but they can’t seem to get there.
They offered all sorts of reasons. One of the most attention-grabbing features of this campaign season has been repeated as a mantra in leaked audio. The idea is that gentrification is destroying the right to vote for working-class Latinos.
Congressman Edward Roybal (DL.A.) addresses students at Hazard Park in 1968. He was the first Latino to be elected to the Los Angeles City Council in modern times.
(Los Angeles Times)
The state attorney general has flagged East Side Wards 1 and 14, traditionally Latino strongholds, as “areas of concern,” according to people who spoke to Zernizer and Smith. The 1st District, once controlled by Cedillo, and the 14th District, represented by de León, have seen an influx of whites and upwardly mobile Latinos over the past few generations.
In the recording, which was recorded in 2021 but leaked in fall 2022, Mr. Cedillo essentially begged Mr. Martinez to keep hipsters out of his district.
“Elysian Valley is a headache,” Cedillo said. “Eagle Rock is a headache. Highland Park is a headache. And Lincoln Heights. We don’t need that headache. We have poor people. La Raza.”
“It’s not for us,” De Leon later added. “It’s for the strength of Latinos in the near future.”
In fact, Cedillo lost his seat to a young Latina, Unis Hernandez, who received little support from Latino political forces on the East Side and turned instead to the Multicultural Progressive Coalition.
In his re-election campaign, Mr. de Leon is facing off against Filipino-American political novice Isabel Jurado, who came in first place in the March primary over Mr. de Leon and two other Latino senators. Mr. Jurado relies on the same coalition as Mr. Hernandez, including City Councilman Hugo Sotomartinez, Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, Los Angeles Unified School District Board member Rocio Rivas and Mr. Hernandez himself. It has also garnered more political support from Latinos.
Ethnic communities in this country have been voting for representatives who look like them since the 19th century. Latino politicians in Los Angeles have been riding this political horse since the Roybal days, and de Leon is relying on it to get him to the proverbial finish line. But anyone who thinks that Latinos in today’s cities only vote for Latinos is making a big mistake, or a Chicanosaurus.
The city council district with the highest percentage of Latino voters is South LA’s 9th District, at about 65%. That’s more than double the percentage of black voters in the electorate (only 24%). However, the incumbent, Karen Price, has won all three races against Latino opponents, increasing her margin of victory each time.
District 15, which covers the port communities and Watts, also has Latinos making up the majority of its voting population. Regarding the leaked audio, Cedillo said the community should be represented by “young Chicano union workers and shoreworkers” from the area.
In 2021, voters had a chance to make that happen. Daniel Sandoval, a former International Port and Warehousing Union district representative and San Pedro and Harbor City neighborhood council member, is running in the general election against Tim McCosker.
Mr. McCosker won easily after the Times revealed that a restaurant with which Mr. Sandoval was involved owed tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid wages to former employees. But what really held Sandoval back was a lack of support from prominent Latino politicians. They dropped their usual assertions of Latino power and favored whites over Latinos.
This is realpolitik that Bonta should not ignore. Because it’s been happening in Los Angeles for a long time, and it’s coming to the San Fernando Valley this November.
Zernizer and Smith report that Bonta’s team discussed the possibility of creating a third “Latino” district in the San Fernando Valley, which would have a significant concentration of Latino voters. It’s something Latinos have long coveted to join the seats held by Imelda Padilla and Monica Rodriguez.
The simplest solution would be a second district that covers the southeastern part of the Valley, borders the Padilla and Rodriguez districts, has a 33% voter-eligible Latino population, and is represented by appointee Paul Krekorian. Probably redrawing electoral districts.
Voters there will have a chance to elect a Latina in November. That’s Gillian Burgos, who is running against former Congresswoman Adolin Nazarian.
But the only prominent Latino elected official supporting Burgos is Los Angeles Unified Trustee Kelly Gonez, who is not part of the Latino political machine that has run the northeast Valley for the past quarter century.
Instead, Latino politicians across the city are backing Nazarian, who once served as Krekorian’s chief of staff.
Regarding the leaked audio that ruined her career, Martinez, a longtime Army general for the Valley’s Latino group, said Cedillo, Cedillo, would redistrict Crecorian to support future Latino candidates. He rejected calls from de Leon, Herrera and others.
“Don’t mess with the Valley, because we’re cool in the Valley,” she told them. “Who wants a little Armenian love? I mean, they haven’t done anything to us.”
Hey Rob Bonta: Maybe we should investigate Latino politicians who don’t support Latinos who run against non-Latinos. If you think about it, that’s not the case. It’s like trying to count all the pine needles in Yosemite.
