Oh, So That's Why a LA City Councilwoman Resigned

Matt Vespa | October 12, 2022 6:35 PM

I stand corrected. There was enough of an uproar to claim some scalps regarding this racist scandal that only involves Democrats. The people of Los Angeles are incensed, and the media is now giving it ample coverage, which explains why Nury Martinez decided to call it quits today. Ms. Martinez was the city council president but initially chose to step down from that post, not her seat, amid the fallout caused by her racist remarks about the adopted black child of a fellow councilman, Mike Bonin. The recordings show no nuance in Ms. Martinez’s heinous statements. During the 80-minute recording, she called Bonin’s black son a “monkey.” Bonin and his husband released a statement when the Los Angeles Times first reported on this story Sunday. The recording was from an October 2021 meeting over redistricting (via NYT):

Three days after the release of a secretly recorded conversation in which she made racist remarks and disparaged the child of a colleague, the former president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from elected office on Wednesday.
The announcement by Nury Martinez followed a deluge of outrage from all corners of the city, culminating in two City Council meetings packed with protesters who demanded the Democratic official step down.
Earlier in the week, President Biden weighed in and called on Ms. Martinez, along with the two other council members heard in the recordings, to resign.
In an emotional statement, Ms. Martinez apologized to her constituents, staff and fellow council members.
“My only goal as Council president has been to champion a families-first agenda that we can all be proud of,” she said in a statement. “Each of you have worked hard on policies and programs that uplift Angelenos across this city. I hope that this work continues and that workers and working-class families remain in the forefront of the priorities of this Council. While I leave with a heavy heart, know that I wish you all the best and I have faith in your strength to unite this city.”

The recordings also captured two other city council members—Kevin de Leon and Gil Cedillo. Will they resign in the wake of this public relations fiasco? What added a new layer of intensity and focus to this story was President Joe Biden weighed in, saying everyone involved should submit their resignation letters. That appears to be the straw that broke the camel’s back for Ms. Martinez. When the president of the United States shines a light on you and says get out because of your racist remarks—there’s no surviving that; the same goes for Cedillo and de Leon. The dam has broken. Ms. Martinez resigned. Ron Herrera, the now-former president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, who was also on the tapes, resigned Monday night, Columbus Day, when this story broke.