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LA Councilman Paul Krekorian at Friday's meeting. | Screenshot from LA City Clerk YouTube video
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Paul Krekorian was reelected president of the Los Angeles City Council Tuesday, keeping the role that he started in October, following Nury Martinez’s resignation.
Krekorian kept his position on a 13-0 vote, with Councilman Kevin de León absent. Krekorian has attempted to steer the council through a turbulent stretch the last two months, with fallout from the City Hall racism scandal continuing to impact the council.
De León has continued to defy widespread calls to resign for taking part in a racist conversation with two other council members — Martinez and Gil Cedillo — that included attempts to manipulate redistricting. Martinez resigned shortly after the conversation leaked, while Cedillo’s term expired on Sunday.
Krekorian has vowed to keep meetings going despite ongoing efforts by around a dozen protesters to disrupt the sessions, demanding that de León resign before the council conducts its business.
The council president has quickly moved to eject the protesters, who have used cowbells and other noisemakers and recently started bringing mirrors to reflect light into Krekorian’s face during the meeting.
Krekorian, 62, has served on the council since 2010 and is in his third term representing the 2nd District, which covers a wide swath of the central San Fernando Valley. Krekorian previously served in the state Assembly, winning election in 2006 after a 20-year career as an attorney in the private sector.
Councilman Curren Price was reelected as the council’s president pro tempore, or the second-in-command. Price was also picked in October for the role after indicating interest for the council presidency.
The 71-year-old Price has been on the council since 2013 and is in his third term representing the 9th District. He chairs the Economic Development and Jobs Committee.
Price has served in both the state Assembly and Senate, with stints chairing the Assembly’s Committee on Elections and Redistricting and Committee on Governmental Organization, and the Senate’s Business and Professions Committee. He was also chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus in 2010.
Before beginning his political career on the Inglewood City Council in 1993, Price was a small-business owner and a consultant with the Small Business Administration.
In his opening remarks after being elected council president in October, Krekorian stressed collaboration in a likely attempt to contrast with Martinez’s efforts on the leaked tape to work behind the scenes to consolidate power during redistricting, as well as comments she made insulting her colleagues.
“The presidency will be a collective enterprise,” Krekorian said.
