L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson takes heat over committee picks

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s David Zahniser, with an assist from Dakota Smith, catching you up on the latest from the past week in city and county government.

Los Angeles City Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson was among the first to demand the ouster of Councilmember Kevin de León two years ago.

Appearing in South Los Angeles, Harris-Dawson said De León had “forfeited” his leadership by participating in a secretly recorded meeting featuring crude and racist remarks.

Harris-Dawson — now the council’s president — took a more magnanimous approach last week, announcing that he had appointed De León to a coveted seat on the council’s powerful Planning and Land Use Management Committee, which reviews the biggest development projects in the city.

De León’s tenure on that committee could be brief. He is locked in a tough bid for reelection and will be out in mid-December if he loses. He had already regained many of his committee seats last spring, after a lengthy period in the political wilderness, thanks to Harris-Dawson’s predecessor, Councilmember Paul Krekorian, who had also called for his resignation.

Still, some foes of De León were taken aback, questioning why he received yet another choice position so close to the election.

“Even [Biden] called for him to step down,” said Darrell Goode, president of the NAACP’s Santa Monica-Venice branch, outside City Hall at an event marking the two-year anniversary of the audio leak. “So why would a City Council president appoint him to that committee knowing the angst it causes the Black community?”

De León, through a spokesperson, said he is focused on representing his district and “working for the good of Angelenos.”

De León’s gradual reentry into L.A. political life in the wake of the scandal has been well documented over the last year. For Harris-Dawson, it was one of a handful of committee picks that has drawn criticism.

Harris-Dawson recently named Councilmember John Lee, who represents the northwest San Fernando Valley, as the new chair of the planning committee, also known as PLUM. Lee, you may recall, is the subject of a 10-count Ethics Commission case that deals with gifts he is accused of receiving during a 2017 trip to Las Vegas with then-Councilmember Mitchell Englander, who was his boss at the time.

According to Ethics Commission investigators, those gifts were provided by a businessman and a real estate developer. Englander pleaded guilty in 2020 to lying to investigators about the gifts after being contacted by the FBI.

Kay Hartman, president of the Palms Neighborhood Council, said Lee should not have been appointed while he has “an ethics cloud over his head.” Her neighborhood council is set to consider issuing a letter calling for his appointment to be rescinded.

“He’s already been accused of being willing to bend the rules to his benefit, to the benefit of his boss,” Hartman said.

Harris-Dawson offered some thoughts on the Lee situation a few years ago. Speaking with KCRW-FM in 2021, he voiced frustration over the council’s decision to suspend then-Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas, who had been indicted on corruption charges. At the time, Harris-Dawson pointed out that the council had not taken a similar action against Lee.

“We have a sitting member of the council that was involved in activities that another council member got indicted for,” said Harris-Dawson, referring to Lee, Englander and their Vegas trip. “The indictment says that person was there and participated.”

(The Ethics Commission hadn’t yet accused Lee at the time of the KCRW interview, but public court documents suggested he was in Vegas with Englander.)

Lee has denied wrongdoing, and an attorney handling his ethics case did not respond to inquiries from The Times.

Harris-Dawson, in an email, said his three-year-old comments to KCRW were part of a broader critique of the council’s “inconsistent handling of ethical issues.” He said he still thinks the council needs a better process for dealing with members who have gotten into legal trouble.

“My focus was and continues to be on charter reform and a standardized, transparent process for addressing ethical concerns,” he said.

It shouldn’t be a surprise to see Harris-Dawson working amicably with a wide range of colleagues. After all, a council president can be removed with just eight votes. That’s a strong incentive to maintain good working relationships with as many members as possible.

Harris-Dawson endorsed Lee’s bid for another term in the March 5 primary. Lee, who won his race handily, signed the motion in May to make Harris-Dawson president. Lee, De León and 12 other council members then voted in favor of the motion.

Days before assuming the post Sept. 20, Harris-Dawson said he and De León had worked things out after a few “heart-to-heart talks.” While he acknowledged that the audio leak scandal “left a mark,” he also said he was ready to work with De León on behalf of Angelenos.

“When you’re elected to the council, it’s your responsibility to work with the people that the voters send to us,” he said at the time. “So I expect that members of the council will do that.”

Harris-Dawson made another batch of appointments Tuesday, announcing that he had tapped Councilmember Curren Price to head the council’s newly formed economic, community development and jobs committee. Like Lee, Price is facing some legal trouble.

Earlier this year, Price pleaded not guilty in a 10-count criminal case filed by the L.A. County district attorney’s office. When that case was first filed, Price voluntarily stepped off his committees. Krekorian gave him back some assignments in May but declined to award him a chairmanship.

Jamie York, president of the Reseda Neighborhood Council, voiced alarm at Price’s new position, which will allow him to set the agenda on hotel subsidies, wage proposals and other economic policies. Price, she pointed out, is facing allegations that he voted on affordable housing projects whose developers had in some way employed his wife.

Giving Price such a powerful post while he is battling felony criminal charges will undermine the public’s trust in city government, York said.

“The message they’re sending is that they’re going to do what they want and that it doesn’t matter what it looks like to the public,” said York, who added that she is speaking on her own behalf and not for her neighborhood council.

Angelina Valencia, a spokesperson for Price, pushed back on the criticism, saying her boss has a long record of championing policies that help working families. The criminal case, she said, is “entirely separate and unrelated.”

“In the face of pressing issues such as raising wages for tourism workers, Los Angeles requires a seasoned, battle-tested leader, and that leader is Councilmember Price,” she said.

State of play

— EASTSIDE BRAWL: The fight for an Eastside council seat continues to rage between De León and his opponent, tenant rights attorney Ysabel Jurado. On Sunday, Jurado’s campaign held a rally in Highland Park featuring the council’s three super-progressives — Nithya Raman, Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez — and an array of union leaders, including the head of the county Federation of Labor. Two days later, a group of NAACP leaders denounced De León, giving him an “F” grade.

De León, for his part, announced he had secured the endorsement of the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents nearly 8,800 police officers, which quickly put more than $100,000 into efforts to reelect him. He and Jurado also sparred at yet another candidate forum, this one in Boyle Heights.

— GASCON IN PERIL: Former federal prosecutor Nathan Hochman has pulled 30 points ahead of Dist. Atty. George Gascón, according to a poll conducted by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times. The survey found that 51% of likely L.A. County voters would choose Hochman, while 21% would cast a ballot for Gascón, with 28% undecided.

— MEJIA’S LIST: Gascón did get a boost from one corner of City Hall. City Controller Kenneth Mejia advised his many social media followers to reelect the D.A., as part of a larger list of Nov. 5 ballot recommendations. Mejia, in a social media post that highlighted his weightlifting prowess, offered endorsements for Jurado, City Council candidate Jillian Burgos in the San Fernando Valley, John Yi for state Assembly and David Kim for Congress, among others.

— BIG MONEY PROBLEMS: Mejia fired up his emoji sirens last month, telling his followers that the city is going broke. On Tuesday, City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield issued his own dire warnings, saying the city has exhausted its fund for legal payouts three months into the fiscal year. Blumenfield, echoing a recent report, said the city’s emergency reserve is on track to fall below 3% of the overall budget, calling that “dangerously low.”

If the reserve fund dips below 2.75%, the council would need a two-thirds vote — 10 out of 15 — each time it seeks to move money out of the reserve to pay for expenses, Blumenfield said. “You need to know the situation is dire,” he told his colleagues.

— MARKING A YEAR: Mayor Karen Bass marked the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas militants, telling an audience that city leaders are “committed to ensuring that the Jewish community always feels safe.” Appearing at the Museum of Tolerance, she assured the audience that “antisemitism has absolutely no place in L.A.”

— THE A-TEAM: Things are looking brighter for Measure A, the half-cent sales tax to pay for services for Los Angeles County’s homeless population. That measure is edging closer to the 50% majority needed for passage, according to the survey.

— HELLO, HIGH RISE: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors took another big step toward buying a downtown skyscraper. The move was opposed, yet again, by Supervisor Janice Hahn.

— PRICEY PAYOUT: The council approved a $3 million settlement for a one-time Department of Building and Safety bureau chief who sued the city alleging whistleblower retaliation. Steve Ongele’s lawsuit claimed that supervisors scaled back his work and then fired him after he alleged fraudulent billing and other wrongdoing at the department.

— STARTING HIS SENTENCE: Former City Councilmember Jose Huizar began his 13-year prison sentence this week, surrendering after a series of delays. He is now in custody at the Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc II, a low-security prison for male inmates in Santa Barbara County.

— HERE FOR HACLA: Lourdes Castro Ramírez, Bass’ chief of housing and homelessness solutions, will head up the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles starting Dec. 2. Ramírez’s replacement in Bass’ office will be announced in the coming weeks, according to a news release.

— WE’VE GOT GUIDES! Don’t forget, we’ve got election guides on the races affecting city and county government. If you want the back story on ballot measures, City Council contests and the D.A.’s race, look here.

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? The mayor’s program to combat homelessness went Tuesday to the corner of Cesar Chavez Avenue and North Hill Place, focusing on an encampment near the Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, a high school. A couple days later, the program went to a part of Van Nuys near the airport.
  
• On the docket for next week: The Economic, Community Development and Jobs Committee will consider a city report on raising the minimum wage for some tourism workers, including hotel employees.