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California to Investigate Los Angeles Redistricting Based on Leaked Remarks


LOS ANGELES – California’s attorney general announced Wednesday that his office will investigate Los Angeles’ redistricting process, following an audio recording of three City Council members discussing how to change political boundaries in favor of Latino representatives.

The recording has sparked outrage over racist and offensive comments. On Wednesday, Councilman Nury Martinez resigned amid calls from politicians, including President Biden, for her and two other council members to step down.

In addition to making offensive remarks during the secretly taped October 2021 meeting, three council members – Ms. Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León – talked about strategies to ensure that counties councils will be redrawn so Latino leaders can have in their districts. key constituency groups, as well as “assets” like airports that can enhance an owner’s political influence and fundraising ability. The three Democrats met privately with Ron Herrera, head of the Los Angeles County Labor Union, at the union’s office.

Rob Bonta, the state attorney general, said: “The biennial redistricting process is fundamental to our democracy and to our community’s ability to hear their voices – and it should be more than humiliating,” Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney general, said in a statement. “The leaked audio casts doubt on a foundation in our political processes for Los Angeles.”

The California state government uses an independent commission to determine its political boundaries, but the Los Angeles City Council relies solely on such a council to make recommendations and can decide county lines. own.

Bonta, a Democrat, said in an interview Wednesday that his office will look into potential violations of the federal Voting Rights Act, as well as the law on polls. open state meeting and the 2019 act establishes transparent guidelines for local redistricting. It remains unclear whether the objectives of the investigation are limited to what public officials heard in the leaked audio.

“One of the things we’re looking at is, are the established counties consistent with the law around communities of interest and voter dilution?” Mr. Bonta said. “We need to look at that, but we still don’t have an idea about re-doing elections or redistributing the region.”

The explosion from the recording rattled Los Angeles politics and prevented the 15-member Council from conducting the city’s business. For a second day, protesters filled the Council room on Wednesday and chanted repeatedly, demanding the resignation of three council members as a condition of ending the disruption.

Mr. de León and Mr. Cedillo remain on the City Council. Mr. Herrera resigned his labor.

When the Council tried to meet on Tuesday for the first time since the sound broke, dozens of outraged residents, many of them members of local far-left organizations, gathered at the Court. town hall.

“No resignation, no meeting!” Dozens of people shouted, waved signs and banged on the backs of wooden chairs.

As the Council attempted to convene again on Wednesday, Mitch O’Farrell, a council member serving as the body’s president, attempted to restore order in the soaring, lined hall Colorful tiles and ornate columns. He later added that none of the three fired board members – Ms. Martinez, Mr. Cedillo or Mr. de León – were present. After more than an hour of intense protests, the meeting was adjourned without any formal action or discussion.

Council was set to discuss a proposal on Wednesday to ask voters to change the city’s charter so that the City Council is no longer responsible for its own redistricting – a measure put forward this week by Nithya Raman, a board member. mentioned in the recording as “not an ally” of the three. After the recorded meeting took place, Ms. Raman’s district was significantly redrawn to be unfavorable for her re-election.

Last year, following the redistricting process, Common Cause and members of the advisory committee similarly recommended that the city’s redistricting committee replaced with a “completely independent” bodyalleged that the current system had led to “extreme political interference” in mapping.

“I am pleased to hear that an investigation is underway,” Ms Raman said in a statement after Mr Bonta announced his investigation. “As the representative of the district that has been most affected by this redistricting process, my priority right now is to revamp the system to ensure this never happens again.”

The recording, which fell like a grenade into the political elite of Los Angeles after it was first reported by The Los Angeles Times on Sunday, includes the sound of Miss Martinez mocking the black child of a white congressman, Mike Bonin, in racist conditions.

The 80-minute recording, obtained by The New York Times, also includes ugly remarks describing recent migrants from the Mexican state of Oaxaca, among other disparaging comments, as members Council and Mr. Herrera complained about the lack of political representation for Latinos and seen as a way to create districts represented by historically Black council members.

“My goal is to get three of you elected, and I’m just focused on that,” Mr. Herrera could be heard saying at a time. “We’re like our own little Latino caucus.”

The condemnation from elected officials, advocacy groups and others was swift and drastic.

Councilman Bonin gave a tearful speech on Tuesday, describing the emotional toll the ordeal had taken on his family, and told three colleagues they had to resign so the city could advance. Nearly 80 speakers lined up to demand the resignation of council members, many of whom said all Council decisions should be re-evaluated because of racism, especially about the process redistribute.

Father Shane Harris, president of the Justice Advocates Association, a civil rights organization based in San Diego, took to the podium Tuesday and called for the state to investigate.

“We are not only concerned about racist remarks,” he said in a statement, “but we are even more concerned with the context of the appeal and whether civil rights have been violated. in this meeting or not.

Shawn Hubler contribution report.

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