Gov. Newsom calls on L.A. City Councilmen De León and Cedillo to resign over racist audio leak
Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday called on Los Angeles City Councilman Richard De León and Councilman Nury Martinez to resign over racist audio leak involving a councilman and his security staff.
De León released the following statement: “We can’t trust politicians to hold themselves and the office of public servant accountable for the actions of their staff.
“Therefore, I have written to Richard De León to resign and to Nury Martinez for similar action.
“No other leader in our state should have to wait for a special election to remove racist and corrupt elected officials. The corruption these men have allowed to continue in our government has had a devastating impact upon our state and our country, all because they were afraid of the very constituents they were supposed to serve.”
The Los Angeles City Council held a special meeting Monday afternoon to discuss a recording made by Councilman Richard De Leon and his security staff of a councilman and his staff discussing politics, including a discussion about which candidate would win the Democratic Primary for the 8th Congressional District.
A second recording was released on July 9 of a meeting between Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilman Richard De Leon, and the Council’s Ethics Committee in which the mayor called De Leon’s staff “stupid, self-absorbed morons” and Garcetti told the Council that the mayor does not “want the Mayor of the City of Los Angeles as part of the L.A. City Council.”
The recording is in two parts with the first part starting at about 1:00 and ending at 1:32, and the second part starting at about 2:18 and ending at 2:42, with the Council and Mayor Garcetti discussing the recording.
The second recording also contains a number of expletive-laden remarks and other political commentary, including a statement by former mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who said that the recording could be damaging, and a statement by Councilman Nury Martinez that he thought the mayor was “a racist.”
At the time, Newsom released a statement saying, “This type of behavior is unacceptable at the most sacred of political, civic and community functions where people choose to come together to discuss everything from the great challenges facing our state to the most personal concerns of being neighbors and friends. When