The DSA in LA
...And Coming to a City Council Near You
Thanks to the California Globe for running this piece. You can visit the website at: https://californiaglobe.com/
With the swearing-in of Hugo Soto-Martinez and Eunisses Hernandez just a couple of weeks ago, the Los Angeles City Council officially became 20 percent socialist.
Soto-Martinez and Hernandez join fellow Democratic Socialists of America member Nithya Raman to now give three of the 15 council seats to DSA members.
Not – for a very long time - known as a hotbed for what could be called conservative policies, the Council is now actually one of the most officially Socialist governing agency in the country (Burlington, Vermont – surprise surprise – has a higher percentage on its city council.)
The DSA has grown significantly across the country. Not technically being a traditional political party - their members run for office under other banners like Libertarian or Republican…No, I’m kidding – they’re Democrats, very Democrats - the DSA is able to skirt a great deal of negative notoriety and direct responsibility. In other words, voters only see the “D” next to the name on the ballot, not “DSA,” giving them a significant – if sneaky – advantage. Here’s a full nationwide list of DSA – including AOC -electeds: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Democratic_Socialists_of_America_members_who_have_held_office_in_the_United_States and here is their website: https://www.dsausa.org/
In Los Angeles, Soto-Martinez in particular stands out. As a potential suspected leaker of the now-notorious audio tape of then-City Council President Nury Martinez, etc. using racist language while discussing how to carve up the city to solidify their power -
- the DSA greatly benefited from the ensuing uproar. And here’s the portion of the (poor audio quality) tape that refers to Soto-Martinez as “entitled”
and here’s a discussion of how the tape got out - https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/is-hugo-soto-martinez-the-man-who-sprung-the-city-hall-leaks/ .
Soto-Martinez, seen here at the People’s Summit in July as a United Teachers of Los Angeles union discusses “transnational organizing for labor justice -
– has spent his career as a labor and community organizer, fighting – along with Hernandez - for such causes as Measure J, which forces Los Angeles County “(T)o allocate 10 percent of its County’s locally generated unrestricted funding to address the disproportionate impact of racial injustice…” (https://ceo.lacounty.gov/measure-j-background/ )
He was one of three DSA members endorsed in the November election – two won. The DSA also supported Measure ULA – a tax to create more money for the homeless-industrial complex, see here: https://www.ocregister.com/2022/12/28/measure-ula-gets-a-needed-challenge/ – and Measure R – a rent control ordinance in Pasadena, see here: https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2022/11/19/pasadenas-measure-h-appears-poised-to-pass-heres-what-you-should-know/ . Both measures passed, as did two – both school board offices - of the three other candidates they supported.
Soto-Martinez spouts the typical woke/left/progressive buzzwords and platitudes, with words and phrases like “centering” and “listening” and organizing” and “equity” and “doing the work” and “root causes” and “systemic” littering his speeches – for a deeper dive on the woke co-opting the language of therapy, see here:
.
The new councilmember also believes that homelessness is caused first and foremost by financial hardship (not being able to pay the rent because not enough affordable housing exists) and second by addiction issues -
– a position that beggars the truth and depth and mental health component and human tragedy of the issue.
Capitalism itself also gets a nod as a “root cause” of homelessness and the “commandeering” of hotels is discussed by Soto-Martinez -
.
Other issues are also at top-of-mind for Soto-Martinez, from public transit how to get young workers to buy into the idea of “Medicare for All:”
.
While it may be heartening to some that all - save but one - of the videos above have only a few hundred views apiece, the question of outsized influence remains – can the DSA and Hernandez, Raman, and Soto-Martinez pull it so far to the left Los Angeles ends up in the Pacific Ocean?