Los Angeles City Council’s president resigned Monday after she was heard making anti-Black and other offensive remarks on a leaked audio recording with other council members last year.
President Nury Martinez announced her resignation in a statement that was obtained by KABC-TV. She apologized to fellow councilmember Mike Bonin, who was the target of much of her derision, as was his adopted Black son who she said in Spanish “looks like a little monkey.”
“As a mother, I know better and I am sorry. I am truly ashamed,” Ms. Martinez said in the statement. “I know this is the result of my own actions. I’m sorry to your entire family for putting you through this.”
The recording came from an October 2021 redistricting meeting between Ms. Martinez, councilmen Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León, and L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera. All three of the politicians are Hispanic Democrats.
The audio was first obtained and reported on Sunday by the Los Angeles Times. It was not clear who leaked the audio to the newspaper.
Ms. Martinez was caught making the most egregious comments, such as when she said that gay, white Mr. Bonin treats his adopted Black son as an “accessory.”
When discussing how Mr. Bonin’s child was behaving rambunctiously on a parade float during Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Ms. Martinez said that Mr. Bonin and his partner were “raising him like a little White kid,” according to audio obtained by Knock LA.
“I was like, ’This kid needs a beatdown. Let me take him around the corner and then I’ll bring him back,” she said.
Ms. Martinez took shots at George Gascón, the L.A. County district attorney, when she said, “F–k that guy. He’s with the Blacks.”
The group later talked about redistricting Los Angeles International Airport away from Mr. Bonin, where Ms. Martinez referred to him as “that little b—h Bonin.”
She was referencing a separate conversation about redistricting when Ms. Martinez said “Bonin thinks he’s Black” before Mr. de Leon chimed with “His kid is.”
Mr. Bonin and his partner released a joint statement after the recording went public, saying that Ms. Martinez’s “horrific racist slurs” about their son should prompt the city council to remove her as president.
Our family statement about today’s ugly and hateful news. pic.twitter.com/0fPPXwsS5B
— Mike Bonin (@mikebonin) October 9, 2022
The three Black members of the 15-person council — Curren Price, Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Heather Hutt — released a joint statement Sunday that called the politicians’ past support for Black Lives Matter a “facade.”
“The actions of our colleagues should not be tolerated and a vapid tongue has no place in city hall,” the statement read. “Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.”
Prior to her resignation, Ms. Martinez apologized for her comments.
“In a moment of intense frustration and anger, I let the situation get the best of me and I hold myself accountable for these comments,” she said in a statement sent to NBC Los Angeles. “For that I am sorry.”
Mr. de Leon said in a statement that he regrets “appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private,” according to NBC. He added that he reached out to Mr. Bonin privately.
Mr. Cedillo didn’t participate in the discussions, but apologized for not intervening when he heard the derogatory language being used.
California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks and Lorena Gonzalez of the California Labor Federation both condemned the remarks in the separate statements, per NBC, but neither called for resignations.
The L.A. City Council has a meeting scheduled for 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
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