Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León is joining former colleague Gil Cedillo in a lawsuit against two former employees of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. The lawsuit is in connection with the release of a secret recording in 2022, where racist language was used during a discussion of redistricting plans for the city, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Like Cedillo, de León filed his lawsuit on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court. The lawsuit alleges that the recording was an invasion of privacy and the result of negligence. However, de León is only suing the two former employees, Santos Leon and Karla Vasquez, who are married. They are also named in Cedillo’s lawsuit.
At the time the recording was made, Vasquez worked as an executive assistant to then Federation president Ron Herrera, and Leon was the organization’s accountant. Both have since resigned.
An investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department is ongoing to determine who recorded the conversation. Neither Leon nor Vasquez has been publicly identified as suspects.
Representatives of the Federation, Leon, and Vasquez could not be reached for comment.
Although filed separately, both lawsuits claim that the recording, which became public on October 9, 2022, on social media, was made without their consent or knowledge. They argue that it was a “textbook ‘October surprise'” designed to damage their reputations.
Both lawsuits also claim that the most offensive remarks on the recording were made by other individuals, not Cedillo or de León.
Cedillo’s lawsuit states that others on the recording “made comments that were perceived as highly offensive by many people”. However, some of the statements were taken out of context or improperly translated from Spanish slang.
De León’s lawsuit argues that the protests and calls for resignation that followed the release of the recording were misguided. They claim that nuance was ignored, context was hijacked, and a frenzy was manufactured.
The recording was made during an October 2021 meeting at the Federation’s headquarters. De León, Cedillo, former City Council President Nury Martinez, and former Federation president Ron Herrera were discussing ways to preserve Latino electoral influence amidst efforts to revise City Council district boundaries.
Martinez and Herrera resigned shortly after the recording became public, while Cedillo remained in office until the end of his term in December. De León is the only one still in office and has announced plans to seek reelection.
Cedillo’s lawsuit claims that his entire career was jeopardized because he did not object to the offensive comments made by his colleagues. He alleges that he has lost employment opportunities and is seeking punitive, general, and compensatory damages.
De León’s complaint states that the release of the recording has subjected him to verbal assault, ethnic slurs, death threats, and damage to his reputation and political future. He is also seeking unspecified damages.
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