The Thorn West is a state and local news roundup compiled by members of DSA-LA. Our goal is to provide a weekly update on the latest developments in state and local politics, and to track the issues that are most important to our membership.

Issue No. 132 - October 28, 2022

State Politics

• In response to gas prices, Governor Gavin Newsom has called for a new “windfall profit” tax on oil companies, and has even vowed to convene a special legislative session in early December to focus on the new tax. CalMatters offers a preliminary cost-benefit analysis.

City Politics

• Los Angeles City Councilmembers Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo have continued to ignore widespread calls for them to resign. This week, the council voted to censure them, after which Council President Paul Krekorian said the council had exhausted its options and it was up to the people to “step forward with a recall.” A recall petition against De León was filed later in the week.

• The physical space of council chambers remains significant, as large groups of protesters continue to disrupt meetings, demanding that De León and Cedillo resign and preventing a return to “business as usual.” The city’s responses have ranged from expressing qualified empathy to instituting hybrid public comment, threatening the use of less lethal ammunition, and, today, blocking protesters from entering the meeting because it was “at capacity.”

• Councilmember Nithya Raman introduced a motion to adopt recommendations made by the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission to strengthen the city’s municipal lobbying ordinance. The recommendations were submitted in April but never agendized by former Council President Nury Martinez.

• Ballot return is low so far, implying that the vote count will once again take some time after the November 8 election. The DSA-LA voter guide is here. Knock-LA has also released a voter guide, here. The LA Times endorsed Hugo Soto-Martinez in CD13 (echoing DSA-LA), after endorsing Kate Pynoos in the primary.

Housing Rights

• In Councilmember De León’s district, the housing reclaimers who had won the right to stay in vacant homes owned by Caltrans have received eviction notices at the end of their original two-year lease.

• Councilmember Mike Bonin’s motion to make it easier for nonprofits and religious organizations to offer temporary shelter to people experiencing houselessness was approved to be drafted as legislation, 10–2. This is another motion that was left waiting to be agendized under Nury Martinez.

Environmental Justice

• L.A. Taco reports on the poor labor conditions at the cleanup of the toxic Exide battery plant in Vernon (the industrial-use-only city that Kevin de León protected from disincorporation when he represented the city in the state Senate).

Local Media

• Mike Davis, the Marxist historian whose writing is essential to a humane understanding of Los Angeles, has died. As many remembrances of him note, although his vision sometimes appeared bleak, he always urged hope. In honor of his work, his publishers have made his collection of essays City of Quartz free to download.