I heard the group inside Hecho En Mexico roar simply previous 11 p.m. as Los Angeles Metropolis Councilmember Kevin de León’s face flashed on the televisions contained in the El Sereno restaurant. It was his Tremendous Tuesday viewing get together, and supporters had been cheering their man’s comeback for the ages.
Written off as political useless meat practically 18 months in the past, when a secretly recorded dialog was launched that featured him and three different L.A. political bigwigs partaking in bigoted, conspiratorial rants, De León was in first place in his reelection race, in accordance with early returns. The previous state Senate chief and failed candidate for U.S. Senate and L.A. mayor had survived recall makes an attempt, requires his resignation from the streets of L.A. to the White Home, a bodily altercation with a group activist at a Christmas tree-lighting ceremony and being stripped of committee assignments by colleagues attempting to make him stop.
No unions, elected officers or main group leaders publicly endorsed De León. It didn’t matter. Opponents had underestimated the grit and guile of somebody who grew up poor, lower his tooth within the labor and immigrant rights actions and wasn’t about to depart the nice lifetime of politics simply because a bunch of wokosos screamed at him. De León has spent the final yr lastly specializing in meat-and-potato points — cleansing up streets, organizing meals drives, discovering shelter for the unhoused — as a substitute of the blind ambition for larger workplace that had characterised a lot of his profession. He pounded the proverbial pavement and despatched out so many city-funded, De León-branded mailers highlighting group sources and occasions — six occasions the quantity of all the opposite council members mixed, per the L.A. Public Press — that the U.S. Postal Service ought to give him a medal.
I heard the cheers for De León as I jogged towards Hecho En Mexico. I used to be late. I had spent the evening caroming across the Eastside, visiting the shindigs of his three principal rivals.
In Eagle Rock, Assemblymember Wendy Carrillo and volunteers danced at her small marketing campaign headquarters to upbeat tunes like “Despacito” and Selena’s “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” although she was in fourth place. Ysabel Jurado’s supporters knocked again drinks at a Highland Park hipster bar whereas a small tv aired the Reese Witherspoon cult traditional “Election.” At Casa Fina in Boyle Heights, Assemblymember Miguel Santiago — who in early returns held a lead of fewer than 300 votes over Jurado for second place — thanked the alphabet soup’s value of unions that had contributed over half 1,000,000 {dollars} in impartial expenditures on his behalf. He then made the viewers chuckle by saying, “In case you drink, get a journey residence” — a not-so-subtle reference to Carrillo’s latest conviction for driving underneath the affect.
I saved De León’s fiesta for final, partly as a result of his marketing campaign didn’t publicly reveal the situation, as Carrillo, Jurado and Santiago had for theirs. Hecho En Mexico was nonetheless packed, although the official program had ended half an hour earlier. I attempted to stroll in when a beefy, bespectacled man with a bitter face blocked me. It was De León’s communications director, Pete Brown.
“It is a personal occasion,” he snapped. I flashed my press badge, however Brown wouldn’t budge or give me a purpose why the media weren’t allowed in. That’s once I observed {that a} lectern and a desk blocked off quick access to the restaurant. Quickly, two burly guys gathered round Brown. Then, a gaggle of ladies lined up subsequent to them. It was probably the most laughable blockade for the reason that final time I performed “Battleship.”
I moved again a number of steps to the sidewalk to consider what to do subsequent. Quickly, two safety guards stood beside me and laughed. One stated to me in Spanish, “They simply advised us, ‘That man with the glasses? Don’t let him go inside.’”
Los Angeles Metropolis Councilman Kevin de León, heart, greets folks in line for a meals distribution exterior his workplace in Eagle Rock in 2023.
(Christina Home/Los Angeles Instances)
For months, I had repeatedly requested Brown and De León’s chief of workers, Jennifer Barraza, for an interview with De León to speak in regards to the tape leak and my latest collection on Latino political energy in Los Angeles. They blew me off although their boss freely speaks to my Instances colleagues and different journalists. From what I hear, De León and his squad are indignant at me as a result of I’ve repeatedly stated he ought to have resigned after the leaked tape and have additionally criticized his propensity to win a seat, then run for one thing extra highly effective.
It’s dangerous when a politician refuses to talk to the press, nevertheless it occurs. It’s pathetic when one does so on election evening, which is meant to showcase our thriving democracy, with the free press as a cog in that engine.
If De León gained’t enable the press to go inside his get together, and sics a bunch of wannabe heavies on me simply because I’ve written imply issues about him, that exhibits he has discovered nothing from the final yr and a half besides pettiness. Even former L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva — whom I savaged all through 2022 as his profession imploded — at all times took my questions and by no means banned me from any appearances, not even his main evening debacle that yr. When a supposed progressive like De León makes Villanueva look good on something, he ought to take a deep breath and surprise the place all of it went mistaken.
Such a fragile, thin-skinned pol doesn’t should be in Metropolis Corridor. Provided that in early returns, 73% of voters in his district selected anybody however him, and Santiago is raring to blast his former ally, De León higher toughen up.
I made a decision to remain exterior Hecho En Mexico and discuss to De León supporters. They walked previous me as if I had cooties, or stared with disdain from contained in the restaurant like I used to be a chupacabra. The one one who talked to me at size was a man who gave his identify as Arturo. I didn’t get his final identify as a result of he known as me a gusano (actually “worm” but in addition understood as a Cuban Spanish slur which means “traitor”) and a “f— a—,” whined a few De León column I wrote in 2018, claimed The Instances was anti-Latino and employed me solely so I might trash Latinos, and asserted that I wasn’t allowed inside as a result of I used to be a “get together pooper.”
In any other case, we had a pleasant chat.
The get together raged on once I observed Fox 11 reporter Cristy Fajardo on the point of seem on digicam. Fajardo — a Nationwide Assn. of Hispanic Journalists board member — thought I had most likely misunderstood what Brown advised me. She approached him and requested if I might go in.
Nope. Thanks for attempting, Cristy! And thanks for telling me to stay round whenever you had been about to go stay with De León.
The person of the evening lastly emerged carrying a darkish blue go well with, a shirt of the identical tone unbuttoned on the prime of his chest and a giddy smile. Brown joined him, together with one other man who stood subsequent to the older safety guard and glared at me. I had begun to take images when the youthful safety guard approached me.
“You can’t get near him,” he stated in a pointy tone, telling me to get off the sidewalk. I reminded him that sidewalks are public property and reiterated what I had stated. I used to be there to do my job, to not trigger a scene — that was being performed by De León’s folks — and I understood he was simply following orders.
The safety guard pulled down his balaclava. A pained, responsible look took over his face. “Simply don’t get shut, OK?” he lastly sputtered.
De León did his interview, grinning and gesturing with no fear on this planet. As he turned to return inside, I yelled, “How are you feeling?”
He winked and didn’t say a phrase.
