The scandal has already led to the resignation of former City Council President Nury Martinez and calls from President Joe Biden for those involved to step down.
LOS ANGELES — Embattled Los Angeles Councilman Kevin de Leon told Univision on 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 racist comments came in a nearly year-old meeting, providing an unvarnished look into the city's racial rivalries. Those involved in the private meeting — all Democrats — spent much of the time discussing how to safeguard Latino political power during the redrawing of council district boundaries.
The Los Angeles City Council installed a new president Tuesday after a chanting crowd of protesters called for halting the vote until de Leon and Cedillo resigned for their part in the 2021 meeting.A powerful labor leader who also attended the 2021 private meeting, Ron Herrera, also resigned. "I feel very bad, I feel very sorry for the damage, for the wounds that exist today in our communities," he said.
"I ask for forgiveness from all my people, my community for the damage that those painful words caused on that day," he said.