The recall effort against embattled L.A. City Councilmember Kevin de León has failed. Organizer Pauline Adkins says she fell short of the necessary 21,006 valid signatures last week and ultimately did not submit anything to the city.
Asked whether he plans to run for re-election next year, the councilman was coy.
“You will find out soon. I'm not on anybody's timeline, but my constituents' timeline," de León told ABC 7 News.
He’ll have at least one high-profile challenger. State Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) announced his campaign for District 14 on Friday.
"The time for change in Los Angeles' 14th District is now," Santiago said in a statement. "The current councilmember's refusal to respect the overwhelming calls to step down, from the people he is supposed to serve all the way to the president of the United States, is holding back the progress we need on homelessness, housing and the economic recovery we need in our neighborhoods."
De León has been an outcast in L.A. politics ever since the release of that repugnant conversation between him, Gil Cedillo and Nury Martinez. He is frequently trailed and heckled by protesters in public.
But de León’s fortunes could be turning around. If the past several years have taught us anything, it’s that many voters have a short attention span when it comes to political scandals. And some community leaders already seem eager to forgive.
“It’s time to heal, it’s time to remember that at the end of the day, we are all humans and we all make mistakes and he did not commit any criminal act,” Lydia Camarillo, president of the Southwest Voter Registration Project, told Los Angeles Times columnist Jean Guerrero.
Are Angelenos ready to move on? As de León would say, you will find out soon.