One year ago, a secret recording of three Los Angeles City Council members conspiring with a prominent labor leader about how council district boundaries should be redrawn was anonymously leaked to the public, upending business at City Hall.
The audio – which was also laced with racist and derogatory comments – was met with swift calls from the public and elected officials, including President Joe Biden, for those involved to immediately step down from their posts. This included then-councilmembers Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo, current Councilmember Kevin de León and then-labor leader Ron Herrera, all of whom have since apologized for taking part in that conversation.
The City Council censured their colleagues – the first time in at least a century that the council had censured one of its own members – and two of the councilmembers in question were stripped of committee assignments in an attempt to pressure them to resign.
For the next several weeks, the City Council struggled to get through meetings, so chaotic was the scene inside the council chamber. At times, officers in riot gear were called in, as angry protesters shouted over elected officials and vowed to “shut down” meetings until every councilmember heard on that tape resigned.
Martinez was the first of the elected officials to heed those calls. She resigned as council president one day after news broke about the audio. Two days later, she resigned from the council altogether.
The other two councilmembers involved refused to resign. Cedillo eventually left office in December when his term was up. The other, de León, remains on the council and recently announced plans to run for reelection.
Beyond calls for the councilmembers to resign, the scandal spurred discussions about the need for government reforms. Today, city officials are considering increasing the number of council seats to improve voter representation and having an independent redistricting commission draw future City…
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