He’s not going to resign because his constituents who “deserve representation.”

There isn’t enough work in the WORLD Kevin de Leon could do to justify him staying in office. pic.twitter.com/bilWl4Ufu6

— Proud Member of The Blacks (@Jasmyne) October 20, 2022

I’m not sure what it is de Leon thinks he is bringing to the job that someone else couldn’t do as well or better. By his own admission, he’s a failure as a leader.

“I failed in my leadership,” he said. “I didn’t step up and intervene. I didn’t put a stop to it.”

In the discussion, Martinez referred to Bonin’s son as a “little monkey” in Spanish while de León compared the 2-year-old child to one of Martinez’s handbags. He later said he was “shocked” by Martinez’s comments and said his “joke” was directed toward Martinez’s “penchant for having luxury goods.” Nonetheless, he apologized for his comments.

“I shouldn’t have made that flippant remark,” he said.

De León claims to have apologized “profusely” to Bonin and his family over voicemail when he didn’t answer his phone call in the wake of the audio leak. He also said that he had planned to publicly apologize at the first City Council meeting since the leak last Tuesday, but was unable to do so.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry to my constituents,” he said. “I’m sorry to my colleagues. I’m sorry to the family of Mike Bonin — to my family, to all those who have supported me.”

His remarks did not go over well with fellow councilmember Mike Bonin who released a statement shortly after the interview aired Wednesday night. It reads in part, “Kevin de Leon’s comments are gaslighting of the highest order. He describes cruel, dehumanizing remarks about a child as ‘flippant.'” He concluded, “He cannot be part of the healing as long as refuses to resign.”

Kevin de León cannot be part of the healing as long as he refuses to resign. His stubborn refusal to do what everyone else knows is necessary is deepening the wound he has inflicted on Los Angeles. pic.twitter.com/42H21bgzHW

— Mike Bonin (@mikebonin) October 19, 2022

The newly elected council president also wasn’t impressed.

“Apologies will not be nearly enough to undo the damage that this city has suffered,” said Council President Paul Krekorian, who replaced Martinez in the leadership post. “The only way we can begin to heal as a city is for Mr. de Leon to take responsibility for his actions, accept the consequences and step down.”

Magic Johnson has weighed in as well.

Since former Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez and the former Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera have resigned, it’s time for Los Angeles Council members Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo to resign as well.

— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) October 20, 2022

The fourth council member who was present for the discussion, Gil Cedillo, has also not resigned. However, Cedillo lost the primary election which means his term will be ending in a few months anyway. That leaves de Leon as the only real holdout.

I think de Leon is holding on because he’s a pretty big deal in California politics. He was first elected to the state assembly in 2006 and then moved to the state senate in 2010. In 2018 he ran for US Senate against Dianne Feinstein and lost. He joined the city council in 2020 via a special election because the previous councilmember was arrested and charged with bribery and corruption. My guess is that de Leon thought he had a shot at becoming LA Mayor one day or maybe running for US Senate again. He might be willing to give up the seat on the council but he’s not willing to give up on whatever bright political future he imagines for himself.

But the bottom line in this case is that the city council has no power to compel a resignation so all they can do is take away his committee assignments and give him dirty looks until he decides to leave. Here’s the full interview with CBS LA.