Cedillo has not reached out, ignored messages about transition, Eunisses Hernandez says

"They have no intention of providing assistance."

Jorobeq at en.wikipedia, CC BY 2.5 via Wikimedia Commons

Los Angeles City Councilman Gil Cedillo has yet to resign for his part in a leaked 2021 recording where he and other officials insulted colleagues, made multiple racist comments and discussed ways to limit rivals’ power, but he is leaving office this year. Cedillo lost his primary for Los Angeles’ District 1 in June to Eunisses Hernandez and his term ends in December. But four months after the primary, she says, neither he nor his staff have contacted her about the transition and are not responding to her messages.

Cedillo is one of two City Council members currently facing sustained calls to resign — including from President Joe Biden — and has laid low since the audio came out on Oct. 9.  

However, Hernandez said that even before the audio came out, Cedillo and his staff have ignored her. District 1 staffers are not talking to her about preparing for the December changeover of power, nor are they answering some requests for help from constituents, she said.

“We can't get a hold of anyone. They have no intention of providing assistance,” she said. 

Cedillo’s spokesman did not respond to requests for comment. His website has also been down for several days.

[Full disclosure: This reporter lives in CD1.]

The audio, featuring Cedillo, CD14 Councilmember Kevin de León, now-former Council President Nury Martinez and now-former Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, saw the four insulting other elected officials, and making bigoted and racist comments against Black Angelenos as well as District 11 Councilmember Mike Bonin, including remarks about his son who is Black. Since the nearly hour-long recording came out, officials from Los Angeles, California and the White House have condemned it and those on the tape. 

Councilmember-elect Hernandez did not speculate on why Cedillo has refused to even engage with her team about a transition. His actions are in contrast with Cedillo’s colleagues on the City Council. In talks with many of the members since the primary, they’ve been supportive and offered their staff to help Hernandez prepare to talk office, she said. 

And Hernandez is already having to step up to help the community. On Oct. 11, at the first City Council meeting since the audio leaked, Hernandez was one of a group of elected officials and candidates standing with the public for public comment, who found themselves mediating between an angry, hurt crowd and the council as then City Council President Pro Tempore Mitch O’Farrell struggled to keep a handle on the meeting. De León and Cedillo both left the council chambers after the meeting began.

“I was there to give my support to Councilmember Mike Bonin. I didn't plan on being [at the front of the crowd]. In that moment you could see that the council interim president couldn't hear what the public was saying, he lost control,” she said. She and others stepped in to try and bridge the gap, as O’Farrell warned he might stop the meeting.

One of those elected officials was 54th District Assemblyman Isaac Bryan. He, Hernandez and labor organizer and City Council District 13 candidate Hugo Soto-Martínez (the seat is currently occupied by O’Farrell) stood on the council floor, past a velvet rope that separated the council from the public. Bryan said they all went independent of each other, simply because they wanted to support Bonin, but found themselves stepping up to try and keep the meeting going in a way that let the public speak. Soto-Martínez echoed that, saying that he thinks the group had a certain amount of credibility with the angry Angelenos waiting to give public comment, which allowed them to help organize the crowd.

“We all woke up with the same feeling,” Bryan said. “I knew it was going to be a contentious council meeting. There aren't a lot of leaders on the current council who can handle that, who can navigate that, and allow for Mike Bonin to be heard, and for the public to be heard.”

The October 2021 meeting was nominally about the city’s redistricting efforts. Alongside bigoted and racist remarks, the officials also discussed ways of moving district lines to favor allies and cut the power of renters, and the power of those they saw as opponents, such as District 11 and 4 councilmembers Bonin and Nithya Raman. 

“I think every day they remain members of the council is a day they're getting paid,” Bryan said. He added that they might be processing the fallout of their actions, but while they’re doing that, the public is paying their salary.

Hernandez said that she is hearing from District 1 constituents on an almost daily basis about issues that need addressing, but aren’t being handled by the current councilman. She has stressed that until Cedillo either resigns or his term ends, she has no hard power — no vote or budget to really address some of these issues. 

“I get some sort of message, some email, asking for help with sidewalks, some people need services,” she said. “We’re doing what we can to triage but in some cases we don't have the power to take action. A lot of these messages start with ‘I know you're not in office, but I’m not getting a response from [Cedillo] and need help right now.’”

If Cedillo does resign, the City Council could move to start Hernandez’s term earlier than December. It did a similar action for de León after his predecessor Jose Huizar was suspended following an arrest and indictments for corruption (Huizar has pleaded not guilty and his trial is set to begin in the coming months). 

In the wake of the recording leaking, Herrera resigned and Martinez also resigned, after first stepping down as City Council President. Cedillo has not done interviews since the audio came out, and according to new City Council President Paul Krekorian, said that he is still reflecting on what to do. De León, the one councilmember in the audio who has not resigned or set to be out of office due to an election, says he intends to stay in office to work for his constituents and address the homelessness crisis (he and Cedillo have both been stripped of committee assignments).

Alongside a contentious mayoral race between Rep. Karen Bass and real estate developer Rick Caruso, the Los Angeles City Council is going through major change. Outside of the resignations or potential resignations of those three members, Cedillo already lost. Bonin is not running again. Several seats could change. Bryan said that means there could be a new face to the City Council, and one that won’t carry the same baggage. 

City Council meetings are currently being done in a hybrid format. As of press time, the meeting for today, Tuesday, Oct. 25, is currently being held as protestors chant “no resignations, no meeting.”