On October 9, 2022, an audio recording surfaced of a private meeting involving Los Angeles City Council members and a union leader that involved racist and disparaging comments and led to a local political scandal. The audio recording captured a conversation between City Council president Nury Martinez, fellow councilmembers Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (colloquially referred to as the "Fed") President Ron Herrera.
The next day, on October 10, Martinez resigned her presidency position but remained in her city council seat, as did the other city council members, despite numerous prominent calls for them to step down. Since none were under indictment, they could only be removed from office by a voter-initiated recall. Herrera, however, resigned from his position the same day.
After mounting pressure, on October 12, Martinez announced her resignation from her elected seat in the City Council. Cedillo and de León did not step down despite numerous calls for their resignations. They were stripped of their committee assignments and chairmanships and were formally censured along with Martinez by the City Council in a unanimous 12–0 vote on October 26.
Meeting
In a closed door meeting at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor offices that lasted approximately one hour, Martinez, Cedillo, de León, and Herrera discussed specific councilmembers, redistricting, and how to "consolidate and preserve political power." The audio recording is believed to be from one year prior, roughly mid-October 2021, and was leaked anonymously onto Reddit on September 19, 2022.
Racist language
The audio recording of the meeting gained widespread attention due to the personal attacks, racist and colorist language, and discussion of political goals. The participants were discussing gerrymandering when Martinez stated, "Fuck that guy ... He's with the Blacks", referring to District Attorney George Gascón.
Martinez also insulted fellow councilmember Mike Bonin's black adopted child. Referring to the behavior of the then-three-year-old child during a 2017 parade, she said, "They're raising him like a little white kid ... I was like, 'This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner, I'll bring him right back.' " Martinez also called the child a "changuito" according to the Los Angeles Times, meaning "little monkey" in Spanish.
In the course of the discussion on redistricting, she commented, "I see a lot of little short dark people there" in reference to Los Angeles’ Koreatown. "Oaxacan Koreans. Not even like Kevin. Little ones," Cedillo replied. She continued, "I was like, I don't know what village they came from, how they got here, but whatever." She can also be heard to remark, "tan feos" (Spanish for "[they're] so ugly"). Oaxaca is a Mexican state that has a high percentage of indigenous population, mostly of Zapotec origin, and Oaxacans are also represented in immigrant communities in Los Angeles.
The audio also revealed council members' remarks about Jews and Armenians, with Martinez saying "The judios cut their deal with South LA. That's how I see it. And they are gonna screw everyone else", and referred to Areen Ibranossian, an advisor to councillor Paul Krekorian, as "The guy with one eyebrow." Martinez wasn't able to recall the last name and Cedillo replied "It ends in i-a-n, I bet you."
Redistricting
The three councilmembers discussed how to appoint a new councilmember who would work in their interests, and also agreed to gerrymander Councilmember Nithya Raman's district in order to suppress those who had voted for her. Heather Hutt, a former California state director for then-Senator Kamala Harris, was suggested.
On August 26, 2022, Martinez introduced a motion to appoint Hutt as a councilmember, which was seconded by four other members. The motion was opposed by Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Mike Bonin, who instead proposed instructing the city attorney to find eligibility requirements for appointments. On August 30, the vote to instate Hutt as a councilmember fell one vote short, with five voting for and five voting against; it was referred to the Rules, Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee for further discussion. The committee cleared her for reconsideration by the council the next day, and Hutt was confirmed by the council in the next meeting and sworn in on September 2, 2022.