LOS ANGELES — Nearly 20 minutes into the secretly recorded conversation that would cost Nury Martinez her L.A. City Council seat, she remarked to fellow Councilmember Kevin de León that it was recently his anniversary. Seven years ago, he had been sworn in as the leader of the California Senate.
The ceremony at Walt Disney Concert Hall was a career landmark, celebrating the first time in more than a century that a Latino led the state's upper chamber. It ushered in four years when De León was one of California's most powerful politicians. But instead of nostalgia, De León spoke of the memory as a deep wound.
"That swearing-in ceremony, I got s— on all over for that," De León said, recounting how his event was portrayed by the media as unnecessarily lavish while a white politician's gala in the same venue got no negative coverage. His theory why? "Because we as Latinos — whether you're labor or you're in the political space — we're not supposed to fill those positions."
