Embattled former California lawmaker gets big endorsement in city council reelection bid
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EMBATTLED LA CITY COUNCIL MEMBER GETS BIG ENDORSEMENT
Embattled Los Angeles City Council member Kevin de León has secured a major endorsement in his bid for reelection — the D.C.-based Latino Victory Fund (LVF) on Monday announced its full-throated support for the former California Senate president pro tem.
“Kevin de León has long been a tireless advocate for the people of Los Angeles. His focus on affordable housing, homelessness, and public safety, combined with his deep understanding of the city’s challenges, make him the leader District 14 needs.
“Latino Victory Fund is proud to endorse Kevin as he continues his work to ensure all Angelenos have access to the resources and opportunities they deserve,” said LVF President Sindy Benavides in a statement.
The LVF praised de León for his hardscrabble upbringing. He was the first of his family to graduate high school. De León served in the the California Legislature for 12 years, including four years in the Assembly and eight in the Senate (four of which he served as the Senate’s top Democrat).
After leaving the Legislature, de León unsuccessfully challenged Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2018 before going on to be elected to the L.A. City Council in 2020.
“As a City Council member, de León has prioritized tackling the homelessness crisis. He has housed more residents than any other member of the City Council and spearheaded the ‘A Way Home’ plan, which aims to build 25,000 homeless housing units by 2025. His own experience with housing insecurity fuels his passion for creating sustainable, long-term solutions for Los Angeles’ most pressing issues,” according to the LVF.
In 2022, de León was caught in a secret recording participating in a conversation with then-City Council President Nury Martinez, then-Council Member Gil Cedillo and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera where Martinez was heard making several racist remarks that went unchallenged by the others, including de León.
De León has called that conversation “wholly inappropriate” in a statement and said that he has fallen short of expectations set for leaders, according to the Los Angeles Times.
“I regret appearing to condone and even contribute to certain insensitive comments made about a colleague and his family in private,” de León said in a statement, according to the Times.
The Latino Victory Fund did not respond to The Bee’s request for comment by deadline.
The Los Angeles branch of the National Advancement Association of Colored People (NAACP) has condemned de León and given him a failing grade, according to Post Group News.
“We will not sit idly by and allow our elected representatives to engage in these kinds of disgusting and racist behaviors,” NAACP LA President Latricia Mitchell said in a statement, according to Post Group News.
ELECTIONS: A GARVEY FAMILY BUSINESS
Via David Lightman...
Steve Garvey’s son and his daughter’s fiance have been both working for pay for the Republican’s U.S. Senate campaign.
Ryan Garvey, the candidate’s son, has been paid $18,750 from July to September for “campaign staff wages,” Federal Election Commission records show.
Scott Burcham, who is engaged to marry Steve Garvey’s daughter, was paid $6,000 in August and September. as “campaign staff wages.”.
Ryan Garvey is deputy campaign manager.
“Ryan probably works more hours on this campaign than anybody else. He travels everywhere (Steve Garvey) goes and staffs him at every event,” said campaign spokesman Matt Shupe.
Burcham, Shupe said, was “brought on in the last few months to help with scheduling.”
FEC guidelines say campaign funds “may be used to make salary payments to members of the candidate’s family only if the family member is providing a bona fide service to the campaign and the payments reflect the fair market value of those services.”
However, the FEC warns that “any salary payments to family members in excess of the fair market value constitute personal use.”
Steve Garvey is vying for a California U.S. Senate seat against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.
POLLS SHOW VOTERS VALUE IMMIGRANTS’ CONTRIBUTIONS
Immigration has taken its place center stage in the U.S. presidential election, with one candidate — former President Donald Trump — vowing to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. That would cost hundreds of billions of dollars and necessitate a massive detention camp system, according to one analysis.
A pair of polls released Monday, however, show that Americans, and Californians in specific, find value in the work that immigrants do, regardless of their documentation status.
First up, a survey from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, which found that 75% of American voters believe that undocumented immigrants take jobs that U.S. citizens don’t want. That includes a majority of both Trump (59%) and Vice President Kamala Harris (90%) supporters.
A smaller percentage (61%) of voters agreed that legal immigrants also take unwanted jobs, again including majorities of Harris (70%) and Trump (52%) supporters.
The Pew survey found that views have changed little since the question was polled in May 2020.
More locally, a new survey from UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute (OBI) and the Coalition for Human Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA) found that 66% of Californians said they identify “a great deal” with the idea that the U.S. being a nation of immigrants is something that makes it special.
A strong majority (69%) of Californians said they support the idea of expanding public programs and legal aid to support all immigrants affected by workplace abuse and labor violations.
Californians are more divided when it comes to establishing a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Just half of Californians said they support “establishing a way for all immigrants who are in the country without documentation to stay here.”
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I was in California. I’d love to have God to come down and be the vote-counter just for one day, and see how well we do in California.”
- Former President Donald Trump, speaking at a rally Monday. Trump lost California in 2016 and 2020 by around 30 percentage points. He is highly unlikely to win the state’s 55 electoral votes on Nov. 5. Video courtesy of Aaron Rupar on Threads.
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