Los Angeles City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado, who has made incumbent Kevin de León’s secretly recorded comments an issue in the campaign, is on the defensive over her own privately recorded comments.
After the candidate for Council District 14 was heard saying the F-word while discussing police, some residents of the district gathered in Highland Park, calling for her to drop out of the race.
“We need to fund the police, not (sic) the police, " Eddie Santillan of El Sereno said. “We need to support the police.”
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During a conversation with a student at Cal State Los Angeles, as first reported by the Westside Current, Jurado used the derogatory language when responding to a question about the LAPD budget.
Jurado’s comments are now part of a new digital campaign by the Los Angeles Police Protective League, a police union, against her.
This may be the biggest October surprise in the Los Angeles races, and a political gift for de León, who is trying to hold onto his seat after fending off recall attempts, according to Dan Schnur, who teaches political communication at USC and UC Berkeley.
Polling shows Latino voters more than any other group are backing stronger public safety efforts, including Prop 36, which seeks stronger penalties for theft and drug use.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that those who are most concerned about violent crime are the ones who are at risk of being victimized by violent crime,” Schnur said.
Jurado, who has the endorsement of the Democratic Socialists of America, seeks to cut the police budget while opposing Mayor Bass’ effort to return the LAPD to its previous staffing levels.
At one point, Jurado admitted to having signed a Democratic Socialists of America pledge to seek the abolishment of the LAPD.
In response to the recent criticism, Jurado said she was simply repeating a lyric from a rap song that was part of a larger conversation about systematic injustice and police accountability, adding her campaign is about delivering results, not distractions.
