LAist Studios Podcast Features Exclusive Interview With Nury Martinez, Examines LA City Council Tape

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LAist Studios Podcast Features Exclusive Interview With Nury Martinez, Examines LA City Council Tape Scandal
By Rebecca Katz
Published Sep 20, 2023 5:00 AM

In an exclusive interview with LAist Studios, former Los Angeles City Council president Nury Martinez speaks publicly for the first time since she resigned nearly a year ago over a leaked audio recording that captured her making racist and disparaging remarks.

“I've thought about that particular day, God, a thousand times, if not more,” Martinez says in an interview with Antonia Cereijido, host of LAist Studios’ Imperfect Paradise. The new season of the award-winning podcast, “Nury and the Secret Tapes," begins on Wednesday, Sept. 27, and the trailer is available now.

Martinez spoke to Cereijido in a wide-ranging interview for a four-part story that looks back at the scandal and examines the political context leading up to the leaked audio tapes. She also addresses the specific language that she used about former L.A. city council member Mike Bonin’s son and her hurtful comments directed at the Black and Oaxacan communities.

https://laist.com/news/politics/laist-studios-podcast-nury-martinez-la-city-hall-secret-tape-scandal

The return of Nury Martinez. Needless to say response to this apology tour has been pretty negative. Access journalism!

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1. Is this the beginning of an attempt to rehabilitate her image?

Hope not. She and De Leon and the other guy spoke some disgusting and racist words that let us know how they feel about Black people.

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2. Yes. De Leon announced his re-election bid same day in Politico.

People have been sleeping on this story lately, and it's still unclear where the recordings came from exactly and who leaked them. Open LAPD investigation on that and a State Attorney General probe into whether the district maps they created were illegally created.

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3. Absolutely. Wonder how these racist creeps are feeling now...

that LA has a Black woman mayor, and the chance that their shenanigans won't fly anymore.

Or, as you suggest, they may have gerrymandered district maps, which may now be investigated.

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4. I don't think they care about Karen Bass other than don't piss her off.

Nury's on the tape talking about being on the float with Karen Bass when she makes the remarks about Mike Bonin's kid. So it wasn't a great look for Karen exactly either. Caruso even tried blaming the tapes on her in July in Vanity Fair and saying Bass won only because of identity politics.

The discussion/maps are under investigation by Rob Bonta, it's active. CA is moving toward independent redistricting commissions for cities statewide, so that may elapse the reform efforts underway in Los Angeles that are lumbering along.

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5. Are you suggesting Karen Bass had knowledge of what was on that tape...

and still rode on a float with her?

How was she to know what racist attitudes Martinez and the other two expressed in private meetings?

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6. The scandal is a bad look for LA Dems in general.

Caruso said Bass did:

I’m sitting on a veranda at Caruso’s palatial estate in Brentwood, a creamy Italianate compound of rolling grasses, waterfalls, a pond, a rowboat, a tennis court, and an outdoor bar. Caruso’s father was the founder of Dollar Rent a Car, and Caruso made billions more developing malls across the state before becoming president of the LA Police Commission in 2001. Caruso ran for mayor promising to sweep drug dealers off the street and to stanch the exodus of small businesses through sheer force of managerial chutzpah. Last year’s race was rocked by a leaked recording of three prominent Latino city council members making racist comments about Black people and darker-skinned Oaxacans. Caruso suspects someone in the Bass camp leaked the audio, which he says “embarrassed” Latinos, his ostensible base, and dissuaded them from voting. “Karen ran on identity politics, pure and simple,” Caruso says. “The subtitle was, ‘I’m a Black woman, and it’s time for a Black woman.’ That resonated with a lot of younger liberal voters.”

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/06/california-political-crisis

Nury Martinez
Parece changuito. (He seems like a little monkey.) And I’m just like, “Oh my God.” I’m over here trying to parent this kid. I’m like, you can’t do that. I said no. And Mike is like, you know, I’m like, you’re not fucking teaching your kid anything. It’s me and Karen Bass on the float trying to fucking check this little kid. Me, Karen Bass y la esposa de (the wife of) Marqueece, Carrie, we’re all looking at each other because we’re the three women on the float, like who’s gonna fucking — this kid’s going to tip us over. Because he’s literally hanging on the rails.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-21/la-city-council-racist-audio-leak-transcription-annotation

I'm just saying that her name comes up in that section, not that she's responsible. Caruso will continue to weaponize this going forward.

But no, Nury and KDL don't care about Karen. KDL even has past beef with her going back to Sacramento and ran against her before coming in 3rd in the primary:https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/assembly-leader-puts-limits-on-ghost-voting-3209536.php

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7. Not a good look for Matinez and the other two racists.

IMO Bass played hard ball if she had something to do with releasing the tape. However it happened it probably won her some votes as many Black voters know about the racism and colorism among some in the LA Latino community, and don't like it.

Ya think those racists weren't playing rough too?

Politics ain't tiddlywinks.

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8. The lead suspect is Santos Leon who appears to be a Caruso sympathizer per the note.

User avatar
u/Honest-Finding-1581
•Posted by
u/Honest-Finding-1581
1 year ago
LA County Federation of Labor Scam
Wow, you know it happens, but when you actually hear it, it's unbelievable. The labor movement is in bed with City Hall. All you have to do is look close and listen to the recording I just received of LA Fed President Ron Herrera and Nury Martinez (no relation, lol). Someone helped me connect the dots earlier this month.

- Herb Wesson contributed $100,000 to a non-profit organization that's run by the LA County Federation of Labor at the beginning of 2021 when Wesson was on city council. Maybe 2020.

- A couple months later, his son, Justin Wesson gets the Chief of Staff job at the LA fed without having any background in the labor movement.

- A couple months later, a staffer for Monica Rodriguez named Rosie Cruz, gets a job at the LA Federation of Labor

- The LA Federation of Labor gets a $20,000,000 government grant and hires Nury Martinez's field coordinator, Andres Sandoval

- Martin Ludlow gets multiple contracts with the LA fed. Remember him? He and Miguel Contreras were investigated for fraud and Contreras would have gone to jail if he didn't die first.

- The wife of Justin Wesson works as the Chief of Staff for Nury Martinez, Alexis Wesson.

- 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.

- Rumor is, Justin Wesson left his post in July to focus on fundraising for Karen Bass, BUT apparently he's still on payroll at the LA Federation of labor.

https://www.reddit.com/user/Honest-Finding-1581/comments/xirs3o/la_county_federation_of_labor_scam/

Police investigating City Hall audio leak search home of two labor federation staffers

The county labor federation building in Los Angeles, where the organization’s top official and three City Council members were recorded during a private meeting in 2021 that included racist comments. (Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
BY JULIA WICK, ROBERT J. LOPEZ, RICHARD WINTON, DAVID ZAHNISER, DAKOTA SMITH
JULY 24, 2023 3:45 PM PT

Los Angeles police officers recently searched the Eagle Rock home of two people who have worked at the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, as part of their investigation into a secret audio recording that dramatically upended City Hall politics last year.

A search warrant was served earlier this month at the home of Santos Leon and Karla Vasquez, who are married and were employed by the federation when the recording was made, according to a source familiar with the probe, who has knowledge of the warrant but is not authorized to speak publicly. Leon’s computers were taken by police, the person said.

Recording conversations without a person’s consent is illegal in California, with rare exceptions, and can be pursued as a felony. The warrant cited the penal codes for eavesdropping and destroying or concealing evidence, the source said.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-07-24/police-investigating-city-hall-audio-leak-search-home-of-two-labor-federation-staffers

The real question will be whether this tracks back to the Caruso campaign, or not. IMHO.

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9. Ok, many of those Caruso connected pols may be dirty. Still, how...

does that make Mayor Bass look bad? Seems like she played it smart and came out smelling like a rose as she is now mayor.

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10. Like the Democratic-Labor establishment is corrupt. That's the line of attack.

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11. Ok.

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12. If you have time last night's LA Forward CD-14 forum is worth watching:

You'll see a lot of talk about "career politicians."