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I’m only surprised it took this long. Nury Martinez, who referred to a fellow councilmember’s black son as a “little monkey” last year during a discussion with other council members, has resigned her seat.

Three days after the release of a secretly recorded conversation in which she made racist remarks and disparaged the child of a colleague, the former president of the Los Angeles City Council resigned from elected office on Wednesday.

The announcement by Nury Martinez followed a deluge of outrage from all corners of the city, culminating in two City Council meetings packed with protesters who demanded the Democratic official step down.

Here’s a screenshot of Martinez’ full statement.

Here’s a bit of what she said:

Martinez, in her statement, says she has a “broken heart” over the decision.

She had stepped down from her role as council president on Monday and said Tuesday she would take a leave.

“To my constituents —Serving you has been a privilege and one that I don’t give up lightly,” she wrote in the resignation statement. “You are my neighbors, my friends, and the reason for this service…I hope you stay engaged and continue to fight for your fair share of the city’s resources. It’s hard to say goodbye, but please know that I was in this fight for you.”

I don’t know why it took Martinez three days to get to this point. The last straw might have been the raucous council meeting yesterday where dozens of people came forward to demand she and the other council members resign immediately.

The other thing which might have been the last straw was the fact that reporters were still finding other offensive comments Martinez made in the same recording, including one aimed at Jews:

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In the same leaked audio clips posted to Reddit in which former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez made racist remarks about Black people and Oaxacans, she also made crude remarks about Jewish people and Armenians…

In the recording reviewed by The Times, Martinez can be heard saying the “judíos” — which means Jews in Spanish — “cut their deal with South L.A.”…

Later in the conversation, Martinez was attempting to identify Areen Ibranossian, a former chief of staff for Krekorian who is now a senior advisor to Rick Caruso’s campaign for mayor. Someone in the room asks, “What’s his name? What’s he look like?” She said he’s “the guy with the one eyebrow.”…

When Martinez couldn’t recall his last name and asked what it was, Cedillo responded, “It ends in i-a-n, I bet you.”

So it was clear no one was getting over her comments about Mike Bonin’s son but even if they were, there were other comments guaranteed to anger other constituencies. The situation was getting worse for her, not better.

So what about the other people who participated in the conversation? Gil Cedillo lost his reelection campaign a few months ago so he won’t be returning once his term is up. Kevin de Leon is still apparently hanging on to hope that this will blow over. But I don’t think that’s gong to happen. In the wake of Martinez’s resignation, the LA Times has published another editorial demanding that de Leon and Cedillo follow her.

If the Los Angeles City Council members caught on a recording making racist and vicious comments about their colleagues and constituents were hoping that the uproar would blow over and they could return to their positions of power, they need to face these hard truths:

Public indignation is not dissipating; it’s growing. Nury Martinez, Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo have lost the trust of the public, as well as the support of virtually every Democrat everywhere. Their political careers are effectively over — even President Biden said, though his press secretary, that they should step down. They are not victims. They are public servants who have gravely harmed the city and the people they are supposed to represent.

On Wednesday afternoon, Martinez, the ringleader of that conversation, finally did the right thing and stepped down. L.A. County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera, who joined the elected officials in the taped conversation at the private meeting in October 2021, resigned the day before.

Now it’s time for De León and Cedillo to do the same.

The editorial also states, “It’s time for them to stop stalling. There is no path forward.” I think that’s basically right. This response to this has become too big for them to possibly believe it’s going to blow over. The longer they wait, the worse it looks. Maybe there’s some chance for them to come back to some position in the city in a few years but any hope de Leon had of running for higher office is probably over for good.

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