L.A. city council president does a U-turn on scandal-tainted colleagues

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Dakota Smith and David Zahniser leading you through the wilderness.

When he reinstated two scandal-tainted colleagues to their committee assignments on Wednesday, Los Angeles City Council President Paul Krekorian gave no reason.

After The Times pressed him, he released a statement late the next night, attributing his change of heart to an issue that many constituents can surely relate to: overwork.

The absence of the two council members, Kevin de León and Curren Price, on committees has meant that other council members have had to fill the seats.

Bringing De León and Price back will “facilitate our workflow� and allow council members to “focus their attention on advancing the highest priorities of the City and to perform committee work more thoroughly and efficiently,� wrote Krekorian, who as president has sole direction over committee assignments.

Krekorian also cited the need for the two council members to represent their districts on important issues such as homelesssness and a possible expansion of the city’s Convention Center.

But, Krekorian cautioned, the committee assignments should not be interpreted as a change of attitude toward his two colleagues.

“Being assigned to or removed from a committee should not be seen as either a reward or a punishment of any member,� he wrote.

City Council aides privately confirmed that the workload had increased after De León and Price left their committees.

Price voluntarily relinquished his committee assignments after he was charged with embezzlement, perjury and conflict of interest in June. He maintains his innocence.

De León was removed from his committees over his role in an incendiary conversation with two other council members and a union leader that was revealed in October 2022. De León has apologized for what he said and didn’t say during the conversation.

Council members serve on four to seven committees, on subjects ranging from the Department of Water and Power to policing. Policies are hammered out there before coming to the full council for a vote.

The reinstatements this week prompted criticism from some City Hall watchdogs, who questioned the timing and what had changed for either Price or De León.

Around City Hall, some supported the reinstatements. Councilmember Tim McOsker told the Times on Friday that all members “should contribute to the work of the whole body.�

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez echoed that sentiment.

“Voters decide who represents them, not other elected officials,� she said. “Respecting democracy and upholding the city’s charter is the right thing to do.�

Just a year and a half ago, Krekorian was calling for De León to stop down over his participation in a private conversation that featured racist and derogatory remarks.

During those heated days, City Council meetings descended into chaos, with protesters jeering De León. Some council colleagues also went so far as to explore how De León, who oversees parts of downtown and the Eastside, could be stopped from spending city funds in his district.

On Wednesday, the vast majority of council members declined to weigh in on Krekorian’s decision.

At Friday’s City Council meeting, public safety and other issues — not De León and Price — dominated the portion of the meeting that allows the public to comment on any subject.

De León placed second in the March primary, ahead of six other candidates, including two state Assembly members. He faces Ysabel Jurado, a tenant rights attorney, in the November election.

Jurado, responding to the reinstatement, said that De León should have stepped down when a recording of the conversation become public in 2022.

“The fact alone that he is making headlines for being appointed to committees is absurd — this is a basic duty, not an accomplishment,� said Jurado.

David Meraz, De León’s camapign consultant, declined to respond to Jurado’s comments.

De León’s return to the council committees may normalize him in the eyes of the public. But if he regularly attends those meetings, he’ll have less free time to campaign in his downtown and Eastside district ahead of the November election.

Other factors may be behind Krekorian’s decision to reinstate Price, who represents parts of South L.A. and downtown.

Some South L.A. leaders told the Times that they have lobbied to get Price back on committees.

Adela Barajas, founder of L.A.U.R.A., a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving residents’ lives in South Los Angeles, said she had called Krekorian’s office every week to urge Price’s reinstatement.

She’s particularly concerned that the 2028 Olympics, which will feature some events downtown, are being planned without Price’s input.

“Innocent until proven guilty,� she said of Price.

Communications consultant Helen Sanchez said she’s not surprised that most of the council declined to comment on De León and Price’s return.

Council members have remained relatively quiet about the allegations against Price, she said.

With voters set to decide De León’s fate in six months, there’s little benefit for colleagues to weigh in on Krekorian’s decision to reinstate him, she said.

The council doesn’t have the power to fire any of its 15 members, but it has suspended and censured various members in recent years following a spate of scandals.

State of play

— BIG COUNCIL ON CAMPUS: Six members of the City Council say they want answers from the LAPD about its response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations at USC and UCLA. Councilmembers Katy Yaroslavsky, Nithya Raman, Curren Price, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Eunisses Hernandez and Hugo Soto-Martinez are seeking an “After Action Report� on the decision to deploy officers to the two campuses, including information explaining when the two universities called on the LAPD to intervene.

— JAN. 6 MEMORIES: Bass had plenty to say about the UCLA skirmishes. In an interview with The Times, she compared the violent attack on the pro-Palestinian demonstrators’ encampment to the storming of the nation’s capital on Jan. 6. Bass said that, based on what she knew, she believed the LAPD responded appropriately to the violence at UCLA.

— GOODBYE, NORMA JEAN: A billionaire heiress and her reality TV producer husband sued the city this week, demanding the right to demolish the onetime Brentwood residence of Marilyn Monroe. In their lawsuit, they accuse the city of improperly blocking them from razing the Spanish Colonial Revival-style home by nominating the residence as a cultural-historic landmark.

— BAD POLICING, BIG PAYOUT: John Klene and Eduardo Dumbrique were wrongfully convicted of murder in 1997, while both were still in their teens. Those convictions were reversed, and on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to pay them $24 million. “I would trade any amount of money in the world to get my 20s and 30s back,� Klene said in a statement this week.

— AND THERE’S MORE: Five years ago, the LAPD accused one of its officers of fondling the body of 34-year-old Elizabeth Baggett after she was found dead at her home, an incident recorded on the officer’s body camera. On Wednesday, the City Council voted to pay $250,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Baggett’s family members.

— TRANSIT TRAUMA: Days after hundreds of Metro bus drivers staged a sick-out protesting safety concerns, L.A.’s transit network continued to experience a string of violent behavior. On Sunday, a driver of one of L.A.’s DASH buses was attacked by a passenger in a scuffle captured on video. Two days later, a security guard at the Sunset/Vermont subway station in Hollywood was stabbed in the leg by a knife-wielding man. The guard then fatally shot his attacker, according to police.

— WEBSITE FOUND WANTING: Lawyers with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, which sued the city in 2020 over its response to homelessness, are criticizing a city webpage created to provide more documentation for the city’s homelessness programs.

— HE’S BAAACK: Former Mayor Eric Garcetti, now U.S. ambassador to India, was in town for the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills. He told the Times that he and Bass “talk all the time� and that he misses L.A.’s tacos and bagels. He also spoke with Los Angeles Magazine about Delhi’s bad air, cricket and the frank sex talk in India.

— HAPPY BIRTHDAY, L.A. CHARTER: On the 100th anniversary of the voter-approved L.A. City Charter, Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, takes a look back at the charter’s history and previous efforts to expand the size of the 15-member City Council.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s program to combat homelessness did not carry out any new operations this week.
  
• On the docket for next week: The council’s Budget and Finance Committee is scheduled to meet Thursday to finalize its recommendations for the 2024-25 city budget. Then, on to the full council.
  
• Department of Water and Power commissioners will consider renaming the Hollywood Reservoir Pollinator Garden in memory of late Assemblymember Cindy Montañez.