Making a rare public appearance, Los Angeles City Council Member Kevin de León was doling out free turkey in his district when he was forced to make an abrupt exit — protesters were on the way
LOS ANGELES — Making a rare public appearance, Los Angeles City Council Member Kevin de León was doling out free turkey in his district when he was forced to make an abrupt exit — protesters were on the way.
His life on the run has prolonged a painful chapter for Los Angeles following the recording’s October release. The episodejust as Mayor Karen Bass takes office. Now, she’s forced to deal with the fallout in a city already confronting bitter divisions and an array of daunting challenges.
Instead, the former longtime state legislator, who won the state Democratic Party’s endorsement for his 2018 challenge to Sen., is trying to withstand intense pressure and stick it out, at least through the last two years of his term —It just might work. De León remains relatively popular in his district, which includes the Eagle Rock and Boyle Heights neighborhoods — making a recall campaign a risky and costly endeavor.
Still, there’s seemingly little that fellow council members or angry residents can do in the short term to oust him. Los Angeles officials say they lack the power to remove a sitting council member who has not been indicted on criminal charges, as two were in recent years. And a serious attempt to qualify a recall has yet to take shape, as the most vocal activists press for his resignation.The new council president, Paul Krekorian, rejected his request to be excused from attending meetings.
If de León does indeed return again to City Hall this week, council meetings could again grind to a halt.Melina Abdullah, co-founder of BLM-LA, said the group had secured commitments from some council members to break quorum if de León appears again. And ongoing protests that have at times resulted in officers blocking the entrance to council chambers would likely explode as they did on Friday, when officers had to break up a near-fight between an activist and a de León supporter.
“I don’t think there’s anything prohibiting that,” said Hugh Esten, Krekorian’s communications director. “And under the circumstances, it seems like it would be advisable.”East Area Progressive Democrats club is looking at all options for jettisoning de León, whom the group calls “ineffective and irrevocably damaged,” and it recently voted to authorize a recall effort, President Hans Johnson said.
Even if the money materialized, Lowery said, potential backers must consider the political consequences. People who called for de León’s resignation would be pressured to take positions on the recall.
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