In a close race, every little bit counts. Should embattled Los Angeles City Council members resign?
When three LA City Council members were recorded during a 2021 meeting in which appallingly racist comments were made, it ushered in a new era in politics.
“What the LA City Councilmembers’ recording says about the pursuit of power,” wrote LA Granderson for the LA Times on October 11, 2022.
In the leaked audio from a meeting attended by Gil Cedillo, Kevin de Leon, and city council president Nury Martinez, Martinez can be heard making racist statements about a colleague and his family.
“The meeting was about power,” observed Granderson bluntly. “The offensive language displays these politicians' thoughts about who they wanted to take power from.”
“Last week, leaked audio from a meeting between Latino members of Los Angeles’s City Council and the president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor revealed that those involved don’t seem to view their Back colleagues as reliable compatriots in the struggle against oppression,” wrote Glenn Loury with John McWhorter on Substack on October 18.
Nury Martinez has since stepped down from her leadership position and resigned from her post. LACFL President Ron Herrera has also resigned as a result of the scandal. The other two city council members present at the 2021 meeting are being pressured to follow suit. All have apologized and been censured by the LA City Council.
“It is with a broken heart that I resign my seat for Council District 6, the community I grew up in and my home,” Nury Martinez wrote in a statement.
“To my constituents — Serving you has been a privilege and one that I don’t give up lightly,” she continued. “You are my neighbors, my friends, and the reason for this service.”
“I hope you stay engaged and continue to fight for your fair share of the city’s resources,” Martinez said. “It’s hard to say goodbye, but please know that I was in this fight for you.”
“While I take the time to look inwards and reflect, I ask that you give me space and privacy,” Martinez asked in closing.
This isn’t the last time high-profile elected officials and party leaders will be revealed in wrongdoing or embarrassing exchanges. But the incident might prove a useful example of how to properly handle such a scandal.
Private conversations are no longer private — if they ever were private in the first place.
Private emails, text messages, and sensitive data are leaked all the time. Hackers, cyber-attacks, accidental exposure, and ransomware are becoming increasingly common.
“Never say anything important to anybody, I once heard a Chicago politician say, without presuming that they’re wearing a wire,” paraphrased Clarence Page for the Chicago Tribune in “The LA City Council scandal reveals politics at its worst.”
Many damaging and damning leaks of sensitive information are coming from within. Insiders have much greater access to the secret inner workings of an organization than outsiders.
Whistle-blowers and concerned activists who witness injustice or wrongdoing and feel they must expose it are a growing continent in society. Consider the explosive leak of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision over the summer, for which many are still demanding answers.
More mercenary types are willing to sell insider information to a press ever eager for that next viral bombshell.
The Information Age has given rise to the Age of the Influencer. Clout chasing, branding, and building a following have paralleled the changing business model of media outlets. In the relentless pursuit of ad clicks, media outlets and social media algorithms send the most salacious content, polarizing opinions, and shocking stories to the top.
Our conversations aren’t always private anymore, either. Everyone is carrying around a recording device in their pocket. As such, politicians are facing new challenges and new levels of exposure in the Age of the Influencer.
But the difficult life of an elected official hasn’t changed all that much. Elected officials in a representative democracy must always live by the warrior’s code.
For the soldier, every battle must be fought anew. This is also true for the campaigning politician; every election cycle must be won anew. Past battles are over; new battles may yet be in the future. None of that matters. Every battle must be fought anew.
It is just as easy to lose from atop a wreath of laurels as from last place in politics. Political fortunes, like the fortunes of war, can and do turn on a dime. And considering Democrats are in the fight of their electoral lives this campaign cycle, any drag on the party could have tremendous costs for every working Democrat.
Elected officials are, above all else, public servants. They often serve as a means to help right injustice, fight inequity, change the world, and help others.
Public servants are like scientists. They often plant or nurture a tree under which they know they may never sit. They may be dedicated to their work, may have dedicated their entire lives to the work. But they know the job they seek to do is well beyond what any one person could accomplish.
They toil anyway because they believe in something larger than themselves, in a sense of community that surpasses selfishness.
With this in mind, elected officials who find themselves enmeshed in a scandal of their own making should consider what staying in office might mean for their party.
In this election and the next.
Dr. Munr Kazmir is a Pakistani-American Entrepreneur, Philanthropist, and vice president of the American Jewish Congress. He is the Bektashi Community's Goodwill Ambassador and a Board Member for the Republican Jewish Coalition, New York Medical College, George Washington University, John Cabot University, Rabbinical College of America, and the DEA Survivors. Reade More Here.
Brooke Bell is a Washington, D.C writer/analyst. On politics and foreign policy, her focus is free speech, individual rights, and global peace. Read More Here.