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THE VIEW FROM HERE - With former councilmember Gilbert Cedillo’s and current councilmember Kevin DeLeon’ filing separate lawsuits over the illegal audio tape recording at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor in October 2021 and with the LAPD’s foreshadowing release of some of its investigation, TapeGate has again become prime news for Angelenos.
What We Know or Think We Know
The audio tape was made without consent of the three councilmembers, Nury Martinez, Gilbert Cedillo, and Kevin deLeon. Since Ron Herrera, Labor Federation President, called for and participated in the meeting, we do not know what Herrera knew about the recording equipment. Former LA County Sheriff Villanueva said that recording was not done by a device such as cell phone as the quality was too poor and the voices were picked up too evenly to have been a device secreted on someone’s person. Thus, until this day it is reasonable to believe that a recording system had been installed in the Federation. We also do not know who had access to the equipment or whether one could hack into the system and make a private recording which did not end up in the Federation’s possession.
The Pivotal Question: What Caused the Harm?
When the meeting was over and the illegal taping was finished, what actual harm had been done? The audio recording itself was a crime (Penal Code § 632), but what actual harm had been done to anyone? None! As long as no other person ever heard the tape, there was a crime with no harm.
Did the Release of the Tape on Reddit Cause Any Harm?
The public paid no attention. There was no outcry of racism (because there was no racism). The motive of the Reddit releaser, who may or may not have been the person who taped the meeting, was malicious. We’ve seen a blurb which came with the Reddit release and it was to harm former Black city council president Herb Wesson son’s, Justin Wesson, Chief of Staff at the LA Fed, and his wife Alexis Wesson, who was chief of staff for the city council president Nury Martinez. The Reddit cockamamie reasoning was that Rick Caruso would kick Nury Martinez off the city council so that “Wesson” would have no job.
Here’s the ending of the Reddit blurb:
If Rick Caruso wins the Mayor's race, he will clean house at City Hall, including making sure Nury Martinez is out. That would put Wesson out of a job. So, the LA Fed is putting all it's money in Karen Bass's campaign.
While the unknown Reddit releaser had malicious intent to harm the Federation, Nury Martinez, Justin Wesson, Alexis Wesson and candidate Karen Bass, the Reddit release was a dud. It did, however, come attention to others such as Hugo Soto-Martinez, candidate for council district 13, KNOCK LA which supported Soto-Martinez, and to Rick Caruso. The last is a reasonable inference in that Caruso’s election campaign committee was scouring all media for any mention of Caruso.
Here’s Where the Harm Starts
The KNOCK LA release came with a malicious, recklessly (or more likely, an intentionally) False Narrative that the three councilmembers were anti-Black racists. This completely false story was promoted not only by KNOCK LA, but also by the LA Times and virtually all other LA media. For a day, this column believed the false story until it obtained an actual transcript of the meeting and saw that the Narrative was False! Voluntarily without being asked, I immediately retracted of my prior statement.
The unanimous False Narrative was bizarre. How could all the media get it so wrong? Then, after the transcript was released, why did all the media stick with the racism False Narrative? By now few media are reckless or dumb enough to repeat the false claim that Nury Martinez called Bonin’s son a monkey. She referred to him as este niño and in describing his hyper-active behavior she used a standard Mexican phrase, parece changuito (like a little moneky) which has zero race implication in Mexican.
As the False anti-Black Narrative was being debunked, new false statements came forth, e.g. the meeting was against the Brown Act, they schemed to harm Black councilmembers when in reality they supported all the Black councilmembers, that they were responsible for Nithya Raman’s being redistricted into mostly single family areas, etc. New York Times vs Sullivan 376 U.S. 254 (1964) allows public figures to sue the media for intentional or recklessly malicious stories. After a few days of the KNOCK LA release, there was no defense for any media to push the anti-Black racism charge.
Trump’s Lies Led to Jan 6th Violence; So Too the False Narrative Led to Political Violence
Based on the False Narrative, certain groups and individuals engaged in criminal behavior. They stormed City Hall, Jan 6th style, but the LAPD prevented them from entering the building. They closed down city council with threats of violence. The mobs then descended on the homes of the Mexican councilmembers, while the LA Times beat anti-Mexican war drums recalling the LA Times’ disgraceful days of the Zoot Suit riots in 1943. Terrorist death threats were made against the Mexican city councilmembers, especially against Nury Martinez and her children. The mobs stalked councilmember Kevin DeLeon. Jason Reedy, who claimed to be part of Black Lives Matter, assaulted and battered Kevin DeLeon on videotape.
The Aftermath Reeks of Obstruction of Justice
The LAPD has done nothing in face of political violence. Where else other than Los Angeles do the police ignore threats to the lives of the children of public officials? Where else do the police have a video of an elected official being assaulted and battered and do nothing? Where else would the police not immediately go to the Labor Federation with a warrant to search for evidence of the making of criminal tape recordings, but instead allow the perp(s), whoever they may be, to have complete control and then provide to the LAPD whatever evidence the perps had concocted? What other police department has not heard of chain of evidence? The LAPD did nothing. Only in LA do terrorist death threats and criminal batteries get ignored.
Was there some quid pro quo? Did Karen Bass promise to reappoint Michael Moore as Chief of Police if he sabotaged the investigation in order to protect her political allies? If not, what other explanation does Chief Moore have?
Hydee Feldman-Soto Enters
City Attorney Hydee Feldman-Soto has no jurisdiction over felonious behavior such as terrorist threats, attacks on public officials, or mob violence. The city attorney is limited to civil actions and criminal misdemeanors. So why does she interject herself into this mess by saying she will file no charges against Jason Reedy? She lacked the integrity to issue a press release. She allowed no questions about her jurisdiction nor questions about the impact that her faux exoneration would have on the wider criminal behavior including who coordinated it and who covered it up? Was Hydee Feldman-Soto doing a political favor for Mayor Karen Bass? Did Bass seek Feldman-Soto’s assistance because Chief Moore finally decided to do his job and arrest Reedy and others?
The Likely Pattern for a Cover-up
Hopefully, this scenario turns out to be totally wrong. Right now it appears that the LAPD’s cover-up will make a brouhaha about whoever made the original tape and then declare that is the end of the investigation. The Mayor and the LAPD will declare “case closed” so that Angelenos will never find out who actually caused the harm?
There will always be suspicion that Rick Caruso was a key player with the KNOCK LA release and the False Narrative. He was desperately far behind Karen Bass in the mayoral race and painting Mexicans as anti-Black might create a backlash with Mexican voters who would then Vote for White Caruso rather than Black Bass. Caruso was spending a fortune catering to Mexican voters. We know Caruso stooped so low as to introduce religious bigotry into the mayoral campaign by associating Karen Bass with Scientology, which Caruso likewise defamed.
Who other than Caruso would have the clout and funds to coordinate the False Narrative with the media? Caruso was lavishing millions of dollars on the media. Did someone whisper in the media’s ear, “If you don’t get with the anti-Black racism story, there will be no Caruso advertising dollars for you”? Doesn’t Caruso merit a full investigation – if he is innocent?
Who got President Joe Biden to call for the three Mexican councilmembers to resign? Does anyone think that Biden would intrude so deeply into local Democrat politics without first speaking with Karen Bass? Did Bass ask Biden to call for three Mexicans to resign? What conversations took place between Karen Bass and her political allies in Black Lives Matter and with more established South LA leaders? Did DA Gason file bogus charges which were beyond the statute of limitations because Councilmember Current Price was about to break ranks and tell the truth?
Here’s What We See
There are gigantic discrepancies between what ones sees, when one looks with their own eyes, and the official statements and actions. The harm ensued from the False Narrative surrounding the KNOCK LA release and not from the actual tape recording. It looks like we are about to hear the official cover-up: “We got the taper, end of story. Ask no more question as there will be no answers.”
Los Angeles has had enough toxic lies. Now is the time for truth.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected].)
