Bass, Caruso call on council members to resign after racist remark incident

Candidates Karen Bass and Rick Caruso agree on at least one thing: The council members at the center of the racist remark scandal should step down.

"I do believe the pressure is going to weigh on them and that they will resign," Bass said. "I think we are going to have chaos in the city council until they step down."

"I think it's the job of the mayor to make sure we don't have chaos in city council when this is going on," said Caruso. "The job of the mayor should be a stabilizing force, to have leadership and character, guided in the right direction."

At City Hall Tuesday, furious community members and activists unleashed their rage. They demanded the resignations of Councilmembers Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo after a recording was made public of the trio making racist slurs during a strategy meeting about redistricting. Cedillo and de León made brief appearances before the regularly scheduled meeting began but left. 

Councilmember Mike Bonin, whose 2-year-old Black son was the target of some of the most hateful racial comments, gave an emotional speech to open the meeting.  

"I'm a dad who loves his son in ways that words cannot capture," said Bonin.

Martinez called Bonin's son a "little monkey" in Spanish. Cedillo and de León were also heard making racist statements.

"And asking for forgiveness is a good first step, well it's a second step, but first though you must resign," said Bonin.

The comments were from a leaked meeting that took place a year ago between the council members and Ron Herrera, who has now resigned as president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. 

"These people stabbed us and shot us and cut the spirit of Los Angeles," Bonin said. 

At Tuesday night's debate, Bass and Caruso were asked how they would help heal a city torn apart by such vile and ugly words.

"To me, trust comes from and relationships come from, work — doing things together," Bass said.

Caruso focused on his history of working on the police commission during the 1992 riots which happened after the beating of Rodney King.

"When I was the president of the police commission, I inherited it after a very terrible time after the Rodney King beatings," he said. "Spent an enormous amount of time in the Black and Latino communities — dropped crime by 30%. 

None of the council members heard on the record have resigned, however, Martinez announced a leave of absence Tuesday. She said she needed to have honest and heartfelt conversations with family, friends and constituents. 

Acting Council President Mitch O' Farrell said that the next steps will be rocky for the city council if the council members refuse to resign.

"It's not tenable. It's not tenable," said O'Farrell. "And they will recognize it."