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ETHICS WATCH - This week disgraced career politician Kevin de Leon was fined more than $18,000 for failing to disclose his personal financial interest in matters before the L.A. City Council on which he took official action.
De Leon isn’t the only Sacramento politician who has tried to reinvent himself as a City Councilmember here in L.A. before being defeated by the voters. So did former Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo, who in 2024 lost an attempt to replace her ally de Leon as Councilmember.
Like the disgraced de Leon, she seems to say one thing but do another.
As a state lawmaker, De Leon sold out to plastic polluters. He took thousands of dollars in campaign donations from fabricators of throwaway plastic bags like Hilex Poly that choked L.A. neighborhoods and the L.A. River in blight and non-biodegradable waste that costs Angelenos millions to retrieve and clean up.
He also sold out to private prison operators. De Leon took thousands in donations from private prisons that profit from detaining immigrants, including children.
Wendy Carrillo is attempting to run for office again in the 26th state Senate district, but some past actions point to inconsistencies and raise red flags.
Like de Leon, Wendy Carrillo pretended to be an opponent of fossil fuels and the pollution and plastic blight they contribute to.
Opposing an oil pipeline in North Dakota is how Carrillo says she “found myself and I found strength and my courage.”
But Carrillo appears to be just another Sacramento politician who says one thing but does another.
At a luxury retreat in 2019, then-Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo accepted $1,500 in hotel lodging and more than $200 in spa treatment by oil drillers and pipeline operators.
Take a look: Western State Petroleum Association paid for Wendy Carrillo to receive a spa treatment at Ritz Carlton valued at more than $200.
But the evidence of seeming hypocrisy by Wendy Carrillo does not end there.
In 2020, at the depth of the COVID pandemic before vaccines and as scores of Angelenos each week were dying of the highly contagious disease, Carrillo took a travel junket to Hawaii for a conference paid for in part by prison guards.
Even though she was a state lawmaker, Wendy Carrillo disregarded official state guidance restricting travel. The announced restrictions aimed to protect public health and limit infections, suffering, and death by Californians.
Also in 2020, Wendy Carrillo was officially reprimanded for sexual harassment.
Wendy Carrillo’s top employee, George Esparza, who was named along with her in the official complaints that triggered their reprimand for sexual harassment, is now serving a sentence for his involvement in the years-long criminal racketeering by disgraced former City Councilmember Jose Huizar.
Part of what offends and infuriates Californians about career politicians is their hypocrisy. Rooting out dishonesty and self-serving politicians requires constant vigilance.
Winning better representation means refusing to take the platitudes and falsehoods spoken by career politicians at face value.
It requires informed voters who know the facts and shine a light on candidates, including face to face and neighbor to neighbor.
That takes teamwork and consistent participation, not only in elections, but also in every month between elections. That is the recipe for fighting wrongdoing and improving our quality of life and quality of representation. That is how we make democracy work, together.
(Hans Johnson is a longtime leader for LGBTQ+ human rights, environmental justice, and public education. His columns appear in national news outlets including USA Today and in top daily news outlets of more than 20 states. A resident of Eagle Rock, he is also president of East Area Progressive Democrats (EAPD), the largest grassroots Democratic club in California, with more than 1,100 members.)
