Kevin de León just won’t go away
Kevin de León’s attempt to ride out the storm does not seem to be going well.
The Los Angeles city councilman’s career has been in a tailspin ever since audio recordings leaked of him having a racist conversation with two then-fellow councilmembers and a then-labor leader and strategizing about how to dilute Black voting power in the city.
I attached “then” to the titles of the others in the conversation because they had the good sense to resign in disgrace or run out the clock on the remainder of their term, saving themselves further embarrassment.
But not de León.
For de León (who in the leaked audio referred to his White colleague’s adopted Black son as a prop) — there is apparently no limit to the level of embarrassment he’s willing to take.
Activists want him gone. Fellow Democrats want him gone. And now even voters want him gone.
According to recent polling by the Los Angeles Times, a majority of voters think he should resign. And if he doesn’t resign, a majority of voters would choose to boot him from office if a recall were to qualify, which it probably will.
But you can’t really blame de León for thinking he could ride this out.
Not too long ago, de León was leader of the state Senate as the Legislature was in the grip of sexual harassment scandals. He was criticized for dragging his feet on creating policies to change a culture that up until then had protected lawmakers and shielded them from punishment.
de León’s roommate at the time, then-Sen. Tony Mendoza, was one of the lawmakers under investigation (Mendoza eventually resigned, right before the Senate moved to expel him).
As the lawmaker chairing the committee investigating his roommate’s case, de León claimed to be in the dark when concerns arose about a possible cover up, though experts agreed that was unlikely.
de León escaped without suffering too much damage from the scandal. It’s possible he really was innocent. And the scandal did not prevent him from getting the California Democratic Party’s endorsement for a run for U.S. Senate not too long after.
For his latest scandal, de León has already been censured by the council. Beyond that, there’s nothing the other council members can do to remove him.
Last month, an activist provoked de León to the point of a fight breaking out. It’s unclear who is really at fault, but the incident has been wielded against him ever since.
This in itself is an interesting case study. The fight broke out as de León was being hounded by an activist at a Christmas tree lighting ceremony and gift giveaway. (Who picks that event to harass someone?) But at the same time, activists clearly did not want to allow de León to resume business as usual.
So far though, de León’s strategy is working. He is acting as if nothing happened, hoping to “repair,”“heal” and “restore,” as he put it in his statement months ago.
Since the scandal broke, de León has issued statements on mass shootings, organized a winter clothing drive and even held a World Cup watch party. It does not seem like he has any intention of stepping down.
Perhaps he will get recalled this time, though he has survived recall attempts before, including three attempts in 2021 and 2022 because he supported the creation of a tiny home village for the homeless.
It’s difficult to see where else he would even go, but I suspect he will hang in until the bitter end.
Should he step down? Of course. But he probably won’t.
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