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“Embattled Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de Leon said [last] Wednesday he will not resign amid an uproar over a leaked tape that revealed him participating in a meeting in which Latino officials made crude, racist remarks and plotted to expand their political power… The scandal already has led to the resignation of former City Council President Nury Martinez and calls from President Joe Biden for those involved to step down.” NBC News
“[Republican candidate Rick] Caruso has erased a double-digit deficit with [Democratic candidate Karen] Bass in the final weeks of the most expensive mayor’s contest in city history. The billionaire shopping mall developer, who has spent tens of millions from his personal fortune in his first run for political office, is in a tight race with the veteran politician.” Politico
The right condemns identity politics and is optimistic about Caruso’s chances.
“In the hourlong meeting, the four uttered not one word about the city’s record-setting crime and homelessness. They said nothing about the poor urban K-12 government schools or about the city’s declining population, caused in part by the lack of housing affordability for the working and middle classes. As for these liberals’ quest to increase ‘Latino power,’ this raises a few questions…
“What is the left-wing Latino position on homelessness that differs from the position of the left-wing non-Latinos on City Council? What is the left-wing Latino position on reversing the population loss? What is the Latino position on crime, something that 77% of city residents say they are concerned about? What is the Latino position, compared to their non-Latino liberal colleagues, on how and why test scores of government schools in California are near the bottom when compared to other states, with the scores of Angelenos lower than the California state average?”
Larry Elder, Daily Signal
“The real story is not what she said, but where she said it: In a conversation about undermining the electoral power of African Americans in Los Angeles. To be precise, Martinez was bemoaning a redistricting plan that she said would have benefitted black voters at the expense of Latino voters…
“It is in big, progressive, Democrat-run cities, not in Southern farm towns, where racial and ethnic tribal competition remains a lively and open part of U.S. politics. Consider the efforts in New York and other cities to ‘Keep Chinatown Chinese,’ with moves to prevent the integration of long-standing ethnic enclaves by, for example, advertising apartment vacancies in Chicago’s Chinatown only in Chinese…
“The communal feeling that goes along with life in old-fashioned ethnic neighborhoods is not always a good thing — there was a time when Jews wandered into Irish neighborhoods in Philadelphia or the Bronx only at their peril — but it is a normal and familiar thing, often rooted in shared immigrant experience or in the shared experiences of African American life. But the ideology behind what we call ‘identity politics’ poisons that with its insistence that we are not individuals endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights but instead are, first and foremost, the demographic boxes we check.”
Kevin D. Williamson, New York Post
“As with other smart Republicans around the country (at least in the places where they still exist), Caruso is talking about crime rates and the impossible cost of living in Southern California. These are common experiences for everyone in the area so it’s the sort of message that can break through. He’s also claiming to know how to tackle the homelessness crisis and stop it from continuing to make the quality of life for Angelinos deteriorate. That resonates. While Caruso is white, he appears to be making significant inroads with the Hispanic voting community, much like Republicans in other parts of the country.”
Jazz Shaw, Hot Air
The left criticizes Los Angeles’s political structure and praises Bass.
The left criticizes Los Angeles’s political structure and praises Bass.
“[The leaked recording] offers a window into the toxic nature of [the redistricting] process… Putting a measure on the 2024 ballot to create an independent redistricting commission should be a top priority, but not the only one. Redistricting reform should be paired with a measure to enlarge the City Council. Too much power is concentrated in too few hands, and there are not enough elected officials to represent the ethnic, religious and socioeconomic diversity of 4 million people.”
Editorial Board, Los Angeles Times
“The tape is a candid portrait of the Democratic machine in a one-party state… Members can be heard on the tape jockeying for economic ‘assets,’ which include infrastructure, manufacturing, sports stadiums, and large residential projects. Assets drive campaign contributions from investors, serve as bargaining chips for members to negotiate ‘benefit agreements’ with nonprofit and labor groups, and pad their reputations…
“[Nury] Martinez said one councilmember, Curren Price, ‘needs those assets to run for reelection. That’s his platform: job creation and economic development.’ But these assets, [union organizer Leonardo] Vilchis insisted, ‘do not change the conditions of the community’ or improve the quality of life of those who live there… At bottom, the scandal reveals not a racial or ethnic alliance so much as an alliance between the state and real estate.”
Tracy Rosenthal, New Republic
“So long as elected officials need their money — even in systems like L.A.’s that allow public matching funds — the temptation to do zoning and other regulatory favors for moneyed special interests will always be there…
“Some cities such as Seattle are experimenting with so-called democracy vouchers in their effort to reduce the effect of big donors. These vouchers provide every voter with small amounts of money that they can use however they want to support candidates in local elections. Research indicates that this program is meeting its intended goal of diversifying the donor pool in city elections.”
Timothy B. Krebs, Los Angeles Times
“In 1990, [Bass] founded Community Coalition (CoCo) to find a humane alternative to the ‘war on drugs’ and mass incarceration… CoCo recruited teenagers to work on community improvement projects as a way to steer them away from gangs, gain leadership skills and self-confidence, and provide incentives to stay in school…
“[As State Assembly speaker] Bass built coalitions to expand funding for children’s health insurance, public schools, and urban parks. She reorganized and increased funds for the state’s foster care system. During negotiations with Schwarzenegger over the state’s $100 billion budget, she pushed successfully for a more streamlined and progressive tax system… In contrast to Caruso’s life as a corporate plutocrat, Bass has been a progressive activist throughout her life.”
Peter Dreier, The Nation
