THE BUZZ: With the mayor’s race now decided, one big query continues to be looming over Los Angeles: How long will Kevin de León last?
It’s been over a month because the leak of the backroom conversation involving De León, fellow City Council member Gil Cedillo, then-City Council President Nury Martinez and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera that rocked the town. The conversation, for those with short memories, included racist remarks, disparaging comments about colleagues on the City Council and a crass discussion of manipulating political boundaries. Herrera quickly resigned, followed by Martinez. Cedillo, like De Leon, has stuck it out — refusing to step down whilst protestors demand his resignation. But after losing his primary, Cedillo’s term is up, and he was already planning to depart city hall next month.
That leaves just KDL bearing the total brunt of continued anger and outrage over the recording. De León has made some half-hearted apologies and has tried to deflect – saying he must have intervened when probably the most horrific comments were made. He argues that, in the long run, the worst parts of the conversation weren’t the things he said. (In case you’re involved in a line-by-line breakdown of the conversation, the LA Times published a handy transcription yesterday).
In a pair of TV interviews last month, one in Spanish and one in English, de León vowed to not resign, saying his constituents need his representation in CD-14, which incorporates downtown LA and Boyle Heights, and is home to a big Latino population. He might still hold the seat, and might still be collecting a paycheck, but after getting shouted out of council chambers shortly after the tape leaked, de León has yet to reappear at a council meeting. Some constituents are taking matters into their very own hands. Activist Pauline Adkins last month filed her third recall attempt against the council member. In line with the City Clerk, notice of the recall was served to de León on Nov. 3.
A petition hasn’t circulated yet. If it does, proponents might want to collect plenty of signatures equal to 15 percent of the district population – just over 21,000. Qualifying recalls, even municipal ones, may be difficult. Petitioners typically have to collect more signatures than required as a buffer, and that may require hiring paid gatherers.
As for the incoming mayor — Rep. Karen Bass, like the remainder of her fellow California Democrats, has called on all those caught on tape to resign. The mayor has little power over who stays and who goes in relation to City Council, but Bass can definitely use her bully pulpit and lots of predict her to just do that.
Bass had been vocal about homelessness being her first priority upon taking office.
BUENOS DÍAS, good Tuesday morning. Votes proceed to be counted in several tight Legislative races. We did get an consequence in a single closely-contested open seat —with Republican Mark Pazin conceding to Democrat Esmeralda Soria in Assembly District 27.
On the House side — Republican Rep. David Valadao defeated Democratic Assemblyman Rudy Salas last night, with the Associated Press calling the race at 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent. With Valadao’s win, all vulnerable California House incumbents have held their seats.
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PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off for Thanksgiving this Thursday and Friday but back to our normal schedule on Monday, Nov. 28.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Bob Iger gets an A+ on absolutely all the pieces except succession.” Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a professor on the Yale School of Management, on Iger resuming his previous spot as CEO of the Walt Disney Company.
TWEET OF THE DAY:
WHERE’S GAVIN? Out of the state with family through Thanksgiving.
TAPE TALK — “Contained in the room: Your complete L.A. City Council racist audio leak, annotated by our experts,” by the Los Angeles Times Staff: “It’s a rare glimpse into bare-knuckle power politics. Parts of it could be hard to follow. To assist readers higher understand the context and contours of the discussion, The Times brought together a team of City Hall reporters and columnists to annotate the conversation.”
— “Suspected Colorado shooter is the grandson of this California Republican Assemblyman,” by the Sacramento Bee’s Andrew Sheeler: “The 22-year-old man suspected of carrying out a mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ nightclub Saturday night that left five dead and 25 injured is reportedly the grandson of California Assemblyman Randy Voepel, R-Santee.”
BIG MOVES — “Returning Disney CEO Bob Iger broadcasts plans for sweeping overhaul,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Stephen Battaglio and Ryan Faughnder: “Walt Disney Co.’s returning chief executive, Bob Iger, wasted no time putting his stamp on the corporate, announcing plans for a significant overhaul of the Burbank entertainment giant.”
THE BEST LAID PLANS — “Each parties had high hopes for California within the midterms. Neither saw their dreams fully come true,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Melanie Mason, Seema Mehta and Hannah Fry: “Neither Democrats nor Republicans have to date ousted an incumbent or won latest ground of their opponent’s territory — though with a handful of races unresolved, a flicker of those hopes remain.”
CALL ALERT — “California Republican who voted to question Trump wins reelection,” by POLITICO’s David Cohen: “Rep. David Valadao, one in every of 10 House Republicans who voted to question President Donald Trump over the Jan. 6 Capitol revolt, on Monday became only the second to be reelected.”
— “Why S.F. elections’ boss might lose his job after 20 years and 4 elections this yr,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Mallory Moench: “With San Francisco’s fourth election of the yr still to be certified, the person who oversaw all of it and scores of other vote-counts over the past 20 years could lose his job next yr.”
THE NITTY GRITTY — “Did San Franciscans understand the competing housing propositions? We analyzed every voter’s ballot to seek out out,” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Leila Darwiche and Nami Sumida: “Two propositions on San Francisco’s ballot within the November midterms hoped to handle the town’s housing-affordability crisis. Neither of them passed. But did people understand them?”
LABOR LAWS — “California Goals to Maximize Health Insurance Subsidies for Employees During Labor Disputes,” by California Healthline’s Annie Sciacca: “Assembly member Jim Wood, a Democrat, is hoping a latest California law he authored will dissuade employers from cutting off health advantages during labor disputes by allowing private-industry employees to maximise state subsidies for coverage purchased through Covered California, the state’s medical health insurance marketplace.”
— “Mentally ailing prisoners in California are 3 times likelier to get shuffled around,” by CalMatters’ Byrhonda Lyons, Jocelyn Wiener and Erica Yee: “California state prisons transfer individuals with serious mental illness much more continuously than other prisoners — sometimes moving them dozens of times — a CalMatters’ evaluation of newly acquired state data has found.”
— “U.S. Approves Aid to Extend Lifetime of California Nuclear Plant,” by the Recent York Times’ Ivan Penn: “California’s last nuclear power plant received a $1.1 billion federal grant on Monday because the state seeks to increase the plant’s operations — currently set to finish in 2025 — to satisfy electricity demand at a time of intensifying climate events.”
CHANGE OF HEART — “About-face: Why Newsom relented, released $1 billion despite lackluster local homeless plans,” by CalMatters’ Manuela Tobias: “Two weeks after withholding $1 billion in homelessness funding over lackluster local plans, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Friday that almost all cities and counties would get the funds as early as next week anyway — so long as in the subsequent round, they commit to more aggressive plans to cut back street homelessness.”
— “In California, 10% of Legislature now identifies as LGBTQ,” by AP’s Don Thompson: “While LGBTQ candidates and their supporters celebrated several milestone victories across the nation on this yr’s midterm elections, California quietly reached its own: At the very least 10% of its state lawmakers discover publicly as LGBTQ, believed to be a primary for any U.S. legislature.”
COVID CORNER — “Long-COVID clinics are wrestling with how you can treat their patients,” by NPR’s Blake Farmer: “Many big medical centers have established their very own programs, and a crowd-sourced project counted greater than 400 clinics nationwide. Even so, there is no standard protocol for treatment, and experts are casting a large net for cures, with only a few ready for formal clinical trials.”
— “After Election Win, California’s AG Turns to Investigating Hospital Algorithms for Racial Bias,” by Kaiser Health News’ Mark Kreidler: “As he charts a course for his next 4 years, the 50-year-old Democrat wants to focus on racial discrimination in health care, including through an investigation of software programs and decision-making tools utilized by hospitals to treat patients.”
BUZZ ON THE HILL — GOP centrists prepare to ‘flex our muscles,’ by POLITICO’s Olivia Beavers, Jordain Carney and Sarah Ferris: “Kevin’s not silly,” said Rep. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), who leads the centrist Republican Governance Group. “He’s attempting to add to his numbers, not destroy his base. And so I count on his political acumen to know what’s acceptable to the rank and file contained in the conference.”
— “His term expiring, Garcetti pushes hard for job as ambassador to India,” by the Los Angeles Times’ James Rainey and Dakota Smith: “With lower than a month to go before he leaves office, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is pressing his effort to get the U.S. Senate to substantiate his appointment as ambassador to India, a fraught campaign complicated by a Republican senator whose office is attempting to renew doubts about whether the mayor and his staff mishandled sexual harassment allegations against a top aide.”
FINAL SPRINT — Democrats confront bleak odds for immigration deal before 2023, by POLITICO’s Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett: Democrats desirous to discover a legislative solution before 2023 for young undocumented immigrants are getting a wake-up call: They need votes from Republicans who don’t need to do it.
TRICKY TO NAVIGATE — “Twitter is imploding. What if digital tools like maps and Google suffered an analogous fate?” by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Chase DiFeliciantonio: “As a substitute of providing probably the most direct route, your maps app routes you by an organization’s advertisers on the technique to your destination. An apps store is affected by malware and scams. A trusted search engine refuses to return results for competitors’ products.”
— “Bob Chapek’s Disney angered Scarlett Johansson, Florida’s governor, and more in his two-plus years as CEO,” by Business Insider’s Travis Clark: “Last week’s earnings, wherein Disney reported a $1.5 billion loss on its streaming business, gave the impression to be the ultimate straw. The corporate’s stock dipped 13% the day after the earnings call, its biggest one-day fall in two years.”
DEEP CUTS — “Greater than 6,000 tech and biotech job cuts roil Bay Area economy,” by the Mercury News’ George Avalos: “As recessionary pressures proceed to mount across the region and across the country, tech and biotech firms have now revealed plans for enough job cuts to erase greater than 6,000 jobs within the Bay Area, cutbacks that might weigh on the region’s economy within the weeks and months to come back.”
— “Pasadena startup seeks concrete solutions to cement’s carbon problem,” by the Pasadena Star-News’ Brooke Staggs.
WAITING WEEKS— “Democrats fail to realize in California House races,” Opines Dan Walters for CalMatters.
— “California cyclist has standoff with mountain lion on trail. Watch what happened,” by the Sacramento Bee’s John Lynch.
CROSSWALK — “California greenlights jaywalking. It’s a step in the proper direction,” Opines Bruce Feirstein for the Washington Post.
— “Disney just isn’t what it was when Bob Iger left. Does he have the magic touch to show it around?” by the Los Angeles Times’ Ryan Faughnder.
— “Dagny Corcoran, Bookselling Fixture of L.A. Art Scene, Dies at 77,” by the Recent York Times’ Randy Kennedy: “Dagny Corcoran, a revered California art-book seller whose shop and jam-packed dinner parties became way stations for a generation of artists, bibliophiles and Hollywood literati, died on Nov. 9 in Los Angeles. She was 77.”
Rob Atkinson of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
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A previous version incorrectly identified Blake Farmer’s media affiliation. He works for NPR.
