Bid To Recall Councilman Kevin de León Launched

LOS ANGELES, CA — A handful of constituents filed paperwork Thursday to recall Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León, who has refused to resign after a secret recording was leaked exposing his role in a bigoted conversation with fellow city leaders.

The recall effort, which was first reported by the Los Angeles Times, comes as de León fellow councilmembers announced a political end-run around him. They will walk out of City Council chambers if he tries to return, making it impossible to achieve a quorum, warned Council President Paul Krekorian.

"That is a clear example of how his continuing presence as a member of the council is actually detracting from our ability to do the important work," Krekorian said.

Pauline Adkins, of Eagle Rock, is leading the recall effort, according to the Times. He's no stranger to de León recall efforts, having initiated three recall efforts to unseat him in May and July of 2021. It would take more than 21,000 signatures from District 14 registered voters to force a recall election.

“After three failed attempts, yet another recall that distorts his record will not distract the councilmember or his office from continuing to serve the people of Council District 14,” De León spokesperson Pete Brown said in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. “He will keep moving forward important projects and issues that threaten the communities and the lives of his constituents.”

The council voted 12-0 Wednesday to censure de León — along with Councilman Gil Cedillo and former Council President Nury Martinez — with some members making it known that they do not appreciate de León conducting rounds of interviews with television and radio stations over the past week without resigning.

In the past week, de León has spoken to Univision, CBS 2, NBC 4, ABC 7 and KBLA 1580.

During an hourlong interview Tuesday with KBLA's Tavis Smiley -- the longest interview he has conducted since the recording of the 2021 conversation was leaked -- de León reiterated that he does not plan to resign and attempted to apologize for his participation in the conversation.

De León called the Black community "the community that I've aggrieved, I've hurt the most" and said he felt a sense of embarrassment and shame.

When Smiley asked how the councilman could claim that he isn't resigning because his district needs a voice when he isn't representing them at meetings, de León took a lengthy pause.

"I'm trying to allow some time to heal," he said. "I'm trying to allow some time to not be part of the chaos at this moment. That's what I'm asking for right now."

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.