Los Angeles city official resigns amid furor over racist comments
Send a link to a friend
[October 13, 2022]
By Tyler Clifford Dan Whitcomb
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -A Los Angeles city
councilwoman at the center of a scandal over racist comments exposed in
a recorded phone call resigned on Wednesday in the face of a fierce
citywide outcry.
Democrat Nury Martinez, who had represented Los Angeles' sixth district
since 2013, was urged to step down by fellow members of the city
council, state and local political leaders and even U.S. President Joe
Biden.
Martinez, 49, gave up her post as president of the council on Monday. On
Tuesday said she would take a leave of absence before ultimately
announced in a written statement on Wednesday afternoon that she would
quit.
"It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6,
the community I grew up in and my home," Martinez said in the lengthy
statement, which did not directly reference the taped phone call.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Oct/13/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_100422.png)
Two other Democratic city council members, Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo,
who were part of the recorded discussion, have defied calls to resign.
Both men have issued apologies but left a council meeting on Tuesday
after raucous protesters disrupted the proceedings.
The phone call, which included a local labor leader, took place in
October 2021 and centered on the council members' resentment about a
proposed redistricting. It came to light only this week, ahead of a city
election in November, after it was posted on a Reddit message board and
reported by the Los Angeles Times.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/101322PIX/news_r27.jpg)
Council member Nury Martinez speaks
prior to a City Council vote to increase minimum wage at City Hall
in Los Angeles, California September 24, 2014. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni/File
Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2022/Oct/13/images/ads/current/2022%20Business%20Directory%20Cover%20lda%202022.png)
The labor leader, Ron Herrera, has resigned this week from his
position as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor.
"This is the right move," California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a
written statement on Martinez' resignation. "Again, these comments
have no place in our state, or in our politics, and we must all
model better behavior to live the values that so many of us fight
every day to protect."
Earlier on Wednesday, the state's attorney general, Rob Bonta, said
he would open an investigation into the city council with regard to
its redistricting process.
Martinez, who became council president in 2020, is heard on the tape
saying that her colleague Mike Bonin, who is white, treated his
Black son as if he were an "accessory" and compared him to a "changuito,"
which translates roughly as "little monkey."
Martinez also disparaged Mexicans from Oaxaca and voiced her
displeasure with Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón,
saying "he's with the Blacks."
(Reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York and Dan Whitcomb in Los
Angeles; Editing by Chris Gallagher, Lincoln Feast and Gerry Doyle)
[© 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |