Part 72: The End for José Huizar and Los Angeles City Council – Does the Little Guy Matter Anymore?
Published January 27, 2024
Photo of Richard Serrano, a Council District 6 write-in candidate, at Los Angeles City Council at the the Van Nuys Civic Center by author (GoPro Hero 11 Black).
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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist
Yesterday in Los Angeles was one of those days, much of the media was in downtown Los Angeles covering the sentencing of former Los Angeles City Councilmember José Huizar to 13 years in federal prison by United States District Judge John F. Walter. Huizar was ordered to pay $443,905 in restitution to the City of Los Angeles and $38,792 in restitution to the IRS. His request for 9 years as part of his agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office to plead guilty was rejected, and it spelled the end of a long running sage resulting from the FBI’s investigation named Operation Casino Loyale.
If all goes according to plan, Huizar will report to the authorities on April 30 to begin his sentence, according to the Los Angeles Times report by Dakota Smith and David Zahniser. After Judge Walter handed down the sentence, Huizar exited and ignored all the reporters but Gustavo Arellano of the Los Angeles Times, his fellow countryman from Zacatecas, Mexico, “You know I can’t talk, brother,” Huizar replied. “But when it’s the appropriate time ...” before Arellano retorted to him “Did the Santo Niño de Atocha listen to your prayers?” With Huizar having posted an image of the patron saint to which Huizar shot back a grin.
Dakota Smith would take a shove from a security guard according to Arellano’s quote. I wasn’t at the Federal courthouse though, I was in the San Fernando Valley at the Van Nuys Civic Center for the first meeting of the City Council in “the Valley” for the first time since the pandemic. My attendance had come at the invitation of Richard Serrano of Arleta, and it was in Council District 6 until recently represented by Nury Martinez, who like Huizar had suffered a downfall even if she isn’t facing any criminal charges as of yet. Presumably California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s investigation into the conversation heard on the infamous LA Fed Tapes continues.
I had met Serrano the week prior in downtown just outside City Hall on my way to the “Save Local Journalism Rally” hosted by the Los Angeles Times Guild prior to the occurrence of mass layoffs at the legendary publication. Serrano, a legend in his own right, could be perhaps described as the exact opposite of Huizar. Whereas José had skated through prestigious educational institutions, Serrano has gone the path of a lifetime of service in the Department of Water and Power surviving his hardscrabble youth only to encounter resistance to his outspokenness in the embattled department.
Serrano was concerned about the proposed East San Fernando Valley Light Rail Transit Project and its effect on the quality of life in the community and he was joined by the Flores Family who live in its pathway. A regular speaker at City Council meetings, Serrano had ran in the special election to replace Martinez a write-in candidate, and he’s running again versus the winner, Imelda Padilla who previously worked for Martinez. Although he couldn’t collect the requisite number of signatures to get on the ballot, Serrano is determined to showdown with Padilla.
So he appeared in his tan City of Los Angeles jacket, with a black cowboy hat and black pants with brown boots to speak at the podium in his hometown. “The reason I am running for City Council is because of Tom Bradley,” referring to the former African-American Mayor of Los Angeles, “he gave everything he could to the city, that’s my hero.” Serrano is a second generation worker in the DWP, and he noted how before the 1984 Olympics “he came here to ask ‘what do you want?’” Current Mayor Karen Bass was not at the meeting, even as workers were busy outside replacing the pole upon which her sign was posted.
Continuing, Serrano emphasized how Tom Bradley had “walked in the shadows, he really did care about Los Angeles.” It’s easy for the establishment to dismiss Mr. Serrano, and indeed at the start of the meeting there had been a lengthy presentation hosted by Padilla to represent the community’s joy at the return of local government to an area many in the past had envisioned seceding from the City after such disregard. Serrano had spoken on the key agenda items, tenant protections and the cities budget, but these days if you just want to speak at the City Council on General Public Comment, you will have to wait until the very end of the meeting.
Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez who had beaten Gil Cedillo who like Martinez was heard on the infamous LA Fed Tapes and she too was alarmed by the management of the city’s finances. The hiring restrictions are similar to those imposed during the pandemic, “we’re rushing through this plan without meaningful public input…just months ago this city locked in nearly a billion dollars in pay increases over the next four years for the LAPD, and now we’re turning around and asking our constituents to accept that their city cannot fulfill some of the most basic services that we are expected to provide.”
The amount of money that Huizar accepted in bribes, a reported $1.5 million is more than someone like Serrano could imagine, even as it pales in comparison to the size of the city budget. In his letter to the judge accepting leniency, Huizar had written that “shiny things were dangled in front of me and I could not resist temptation” in the letter posted by legal affairs journalist Meghann Cuniff who described how in punishing Huizar the judge said: “sympathy for a defendant’s family cannot be allowed to shield the defendant from the punishment that he deserves.” There would be no leniency for José, but is it business as usual as Serrano would suggest to me after the meeting in line with so many critics?
Council President when asked about the claim by Dakota Smith denied it telling her that “His conduct was an embarrassment to the city, a betrayal of the voters and a betrayal of all of us, his former colleagues…So to suggest that this is business as usual is utter nonsense.” Many people will say that the whole endeavor of government is corrupt, but sitting there at the horseshoe in Van Nuys it was a curious dynamic. On one side was Curren Price next to Traci Park and Imelda Padilla, and on the other was John Lee and Tim McCosker. Kevin de León was there too fresh off sending his apology note as he seeks re-election in Council District 14 once held by Huizar.
“Two years ago, I was part of a private, recorded conversation. When that recording was made public a year later, I immediately took responsibility for my part and asked for your forgiveness, making no excused,” de León would write his constituents in the re-election mailer. “I’ll always regret not speaking up on that day, but I won’t let one mistake stop me from working for every Angeleno in this district, especially you and your loved ones.” It’s good to know that KDL cares, and indeed he has the largest communications team on the council, something that Latino politicians on the Council without his baggage, like Hernandez and Soto-Martinez in the past have questioned in his refusal to resign.
I’m not sure if Kevin de León is a bad person, and when I listened to Nury Martinez’s interview with Antonia Cereijido of LAist as part of last year’s Imperfect Paradise podcast, it was hard to want to forgive them for the blatantly racist conversation that was heard. I don’t think KDL deserves re-election though, he too like Martinez should bear the cost of the turmoil heard, even as we continue to investigate exactly who made and leaked the recordings. KDL and Cedillo have both filed lawsuits alleging that Santos Leon and Karla Vasquez, the respective former Director of Finance and Executive Assistant to LA Fed President Ron Herrera, were behind the recordings.
At the same time, Cedillo in interview in La Opinion had the gall to suggest that Nika Soon-Shiong, the daughter of financially distressed Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong along with Hernandez, Martinez and Nithya Raman had been behind the recording. If you’ve never been to the City Council meetings, it consists of a usual cast consisting of gadflies, those with complete objection to the aforementioned “business as usual” concept and lobbyists. The latter were out in force, both a representative for apartment owners as well as one for architects association.
Without the cameras having full view of the room in Van Nuys like in Downtown Los Angeles, they simply stood there in front of us doing their business. At one point, the apartment lobbyist winked at me knowingly, after watching me film for a while, and later I would catch Tim McOkser and the architect having a hushed conversation. Clearly, those with power want the ear of the Council and in closer quarters they didn’t even have to really go to the side in the less spacious room. It simply happened right in front of you. I can’t blame them, if I was a landlord, I’d want to collect my rent checks too, but would I put people on the streets who couldn’t pay like Huizar?
After nearly 5 hours of Los Angeles City Council, which meets on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays in the mornings, and never at night, we finally got General Public Comment. The speakers lined up like perhaps you would in school, got their minute quickly, and President Paul Krekorian clearly fatigued and underfed like some of his colleagues who had their lunch during the meeting called it to an end. The Times named the lobbyist who winked at me, I don’t care to name him though, and after going home, and catching a nap, I too was back on the phone with Richard Serrano talking about the meeting as I gulped down my lunch/dinner at last.
The feel of the N95 mask still pinching on my nose. It’s perhaps how Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong feels reading the report from New York Times journalist Ben Mullin that he had attempted to, and until effectively stopped a story on fellow billionaire Gary Michelson being sued over his dog biting someone in a park. I know Michelson a little, in fact, I helped to build the biomedical research building on USC’s University Park campus named after him, and one thing I can tell you about Gary is that he does love animals, in fact, he’s an active philanthropist in the field.
I’m not sure though even someone like Michelson could fix the finances of Los Angeles, where almost as a coda I heard concerns expressed about the lack of effective taxation collection. In a city where a 13 year sentence comes after a nearly 5 year investigation, the wheels of justice are slow, and while Huizar goes down you can’t help but wonder who else is cheating the public in this city by not paying their fair share and ripping off the public. Graft is real, and so is corruption, but at the end of the day, we need some government, and there won’t always be a billionaire to come to our rescue with a bailout. While Mayor Karen Bass has notably managed to mostly work it out with the LAPD who heavily favored billionaire developer Rick Caruso, her former rival, the impact of the immense spending for Inside Safe is very substantial albeit justifiable
It’s not that everything in Los Angeles is corrupt, but rather that by having so much corruption in so little time we forget what it's like to be normal. I’m not sure if Imelda Padilla just wanted the meeting back in the Valley to suck up to Congressman Tony Cardenas as Serrano had suggested in inviting me, and in fact, I’d been there before last year to see Padilla debate Marisa Alcaraz for the seat held by Martinez until her resignation in October 2022. I don’t think Padilla doesn’t mean well, or Krekorian either, but it’s clear that the current Council can’t solve all of Los Angeles problems, much less ensure a balanced budget.
Serrano thinks we’re heading into another recession like 2009. I’m not so sure, even as I landed as a fresh college graduate in the middle of that, but I also I don’t think we’re delivering on the promise of accountability. The first hour had been spent on congratulations even as the hard business of running the city pressed. Just where were our priorities? I’m happy to have pomp and circumstance too, but I also remember how in 2022 the Council became so embattled that it barely functioned, with Krekorian ejecting disruptors in greater numbers. No one had to be kicked out of the meeting on Friday, even as at least a half dozen LAPD officers were on scene ready to do so if things got out of hand.
“What are all the cops for?” someone asked in my TikTok live stream feed. “To police the audience” I replied, but who was policing the Council? With all of the scandals in Los Angeles happening from the LAPD to the Council to the Times and even on to USC, all you can do is start to wonder about the ecosystem. What keeps us from being better? Is it simply nostalgia to speak of Tom Bradley or is there a real critique there? I watched Padilla eat her lunch and look at the agenda closely, she seemed to be trying at least much like Yaroslavsky, and no one expected her to change everything in CD-6, but she could start by speaking with Serrano, even debating him unlike in CD-10 where Heather Hutt has proposed sending a delegate to debate the field ahead of the March 5 primary. No joke, that’s actually what’s happening.
Hutt wasn’t present for the meeting. The January 25 press release from Eddie Anderson, Reggie Jones Sawyer, Aura Vasquez and Grace Yoo states: “We stand united in our unwillingness to participate in forums and town halls in which appointed councilmember Heather Hutt sends a surrogate to speak on her behalf.” They proposed the following terms in the statement posted on Instagram: “Either the appointed councilmember joins the forum/town hall/zoom for candidates herself or her time slot is to remain silent for the duration, as she chose not to participate.”
Serrano liked Hutt, she had been congenial him, but as I described the situation to him, he had no answer for that decision. What happens next in Los Angeles? Your guess is as good as mine, and while I agree that Huizar isn’t quite usual, I don’t think it’s going to be the last scandal on the Council. The respect that Krekorian shows as President of the Council towards the audience sets the whole tone for the meeting, while I get that he doesn’t like the protestors and gadflies or their politics.
His refusal even engage in meaningful dialogue with them, the few who will show up to the meeting as one regular speaker noted, limits the potential for success. “We believe the people deserve to hear directly from the people who wish to represent them at City Hall” the CD-10 press statement said with resolution and cap locks on “DEMOCRACY” and “CIVIC ENGAGEMENT” for much needed extra emphasis. If you ask me how we get to that Tom Bradley energy, it starts with getting serious about expanding and improving the council meetings to bigger and more accessible.
Link: Former L.A. Councilman Jose Huizar sentenced to 13 years in prison in corruption case
Link: Jose Huizar was our rancho’s American dream. Now, he’s headed to prison for 13 years
Link: Corrupt LA politician José Huizar sentenced to 13 years in prison as judges cites 'little remorse'
Link: Gil Cedillo: 'The audio scandal was manufactured to disempower the Latino community'
Link: Los Angeles Times Owner Clashed With Top Editor Over Unpublished Article
Link: Kevin de León Campaign Mailer
Link: City Council District 10 Press Statement
Please support my work with your subscription or for direct aid use Venmo
Zachary Ellison is an Independent Journalist and Whistleblower in the Los Angeles area. Zach was most recently employed by the University of Southern California, Office of the Provost from October 2015 to August 2022 as an Executive Secretary and Administrative Assistant supporting the Vice Provost for Academic Operations and the Vice Provost and Senior Advisor to the Provost among others. Zach holds a Master’s in Public Administration and a Graduate Certificate in Sustainable Policy and Planning from the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy. While a student at USC, he worked for the USC Good Neighbors Campaign including on their newsletter distributed university-wide. Zach completed his B.A. in History at Reed College, in Portland, Oregon and was a writer, editor, and photographer for the Pasadena High School Chronicle. He was Barack Obama’s one-millionth online campaign contributor in 2008. Zach is a former AmeriCorps intern for Hawaii State Parks and worked for the City of Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation. He is a trained civil process server, and enjoys weekends in the great outdoors.
