Arrests or laziness: L.A. City Council candidates discuss unfair campaign accusations

The first forum held by two candidates running to represent an Eastside seat on the Los Angeles City Council veered into unusual territory when one reviewed details of his arrest record and the other said he had been falsely accused of being lazy.

Councilman Jose Huizar and his lone opponent, businessman Rudy Martinez, spent much of the one-hour event discussing typical council fare, such as graffiti removal and the city's budget crisis.

But a single question put a jolt into the evening when both candidates were asked to describe what they felt were unfair campaign accusations about themselves. Martinez, who owns a sushi bar in Eagle Rock, described two arrests -- one for drunk driving in 1988 and another for assault in 1991.

He said the latter case, which resulted in a battery conviction, occurred after a fight at his father's restaurant in downtown Los Angeles. Martinez then told the audience, gathered in a meeting room of Hermon Community Church, that he had been accused -- falsely, he later said -- of beating his wife.

Huizar swiftly responded, interrupting Martinez to announce he had never made such an allegation. Martinez apologized to Huizar and told audience members he was willing to talk to them further about the arrests.

"I have made mistakes in my life, and I have learned from them," he said.

Moments later, however, Huizar said Martinez had unfairly accused him of not working hard as the representative of the 14th District, which includes Eagle Rock, El Sereno and Boyle Heights. The councilman, who served on the school board from 2001 to 2005, said he had worked various jobs since the sixth grade.

"For someone to claim I'm lazy, I would just like to point out where I started out in life and where I am now," said Huizar, who emigrated from Mexico as a child and went on to earn a degree from Princeton University.

The race between the two candidates has quickly gotten heated. Huizar's campaign put out a news release in December asserting that Martinez racked up four criminal convictions -- two for battery, one for reckless driving and one for loitering.

After the debate, Martinez said he had been convicted of loitering, reckless driving and battery but said he could not provide details of the fourth case without looking up the information.

Highland Park resident Rosario Howard, who attended the forum, said she was not troubled by Martinez's arrests but viewed Huizar as the superior candidate, largely because she considered him to be responsive to his constituents.

"We all make mistakes, and [Martinez] sounds like he learned from them," she said. "That's not why I'm not voting for him. I just think Jose has a track record."

The election is March 8.

-- David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall

Comments

[headjazz]

And they wonder why the city is in such bad shape! Aren't there more intelligent, educated latinos interested in politics. Only these dunces, pathetic!

[Brian]

We need a state law that says you can't lie in any political ads. That would solve these problems. We have way too many dumb political commercials right before elections that don't tell the truth and fool dumb people into voting a certain way. Can't we at least make politicians tell the truth?

[DJ in ER]

Los Angeles on $300,000 a year
Why next week's City Council "coronation" will cost you far more than money
By Patrick Range McDonald
published: February 26,

....Huizar is viewed by some of his colleagues as the laziest council member, and his personal schedule obtained by the Weekly bears out such sentiment: It is filled with empty blocks of time, light weekends and workdays that sometimes end at 4 p.m. Huizar sits on the powerful Planning & Land Use Management Committee, or PLUM, where Los Angeles residents go to beg its three sitting council members to tone down multimillion-dollar projects. ....

Isn't this the story that started the "lazy" Huizar reputation?????

[BHNATIVE]

tHE GRADUATE FROM PRINSTON,HUIZAR, IMPRESSIVE, HOWEVER,WE ARE TALKING ABOUT YOUR WORK IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS AS CITY COUNCIL JOB FOR CD14. Why a graduate with a law degree, has a problem keeping employees. The turn over of 89 employees is not a good sign, I would think the Labor board would be interested in your turn over. Your staff does not follow through on projects, and why you do not have a representative at the RAC meetings "Gold Line Advisory Board for the East side", and have you done anything withthe issues of the Gold Line and safety gates. No your office has not been involved. Everything your office does is a secret, your newsletter does not represent a graduate of any college. You may want to glance at Councilman Smith weekly newsletter, very informative