The Brief

L.A. City Council President Paul Krekorian recalls the pandemonium following the release on Oct. 9, 2022, of a secretly recorded audio tape of colleagues making racist and derogatory remarks. For weeks, council meetings were marked by loud, angry protests that often shut down the proceedings.

City Hall was in crisis.

“The anguish was visceral in the council chambers and the council meetings were bedlam,” Krekorian remembers. “We could barely proceed with the work of the city.”

The scandal involved former councilmembers Nury Martinez and Gil Cedillo, Councilmember Kevin de León, and Ron Herrera, the former president of the influential L.A. County Federation of Labor. The audio was from a meeting where the four were discussing how to redraw council district boundaries in a way that would maintain their power.

In the year since the tapes were leaked, the fallout from the scandal has fundamentally changed City Hall. Martinez resigned, and Cedillo was voted out of office. (Herrera also resigned from the labor federation.) De León was urged to resign but remained defiant, not only staying on the council but announcing that he’ll run for reelection next year.

File: Los Angeles City councilmembers Gil Cedillo (L) and Kevin de Leon (R) speaking at separate events in 2021.

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There was also turmoil apart from the scandal. Councilmember Mark Ridley-Thomas was convicted on federal charges of bribery and corruption. Councilmember Curren Price was indicted on charges of embezzlement and perjury. Just last week, Councilmember John Lee was accused of ethics violations. Former Councilmember José Huizar pleaded guilty to federal charges of racketeering and tax evasion.

Perhaps most importantly, the tapes scandal laid bare the racial dynamics that sometimes pit council members against one another and the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to maintain power. Combined with the corruption charges against sitting and former council members, it upended public trust. Six new members were voted onto the council and one was appointed — none of whom had previously held elected office — and calls for government reform are now at the center of council politics.

The City Council, then and now

Martinez was council president at the time and stood at the center of the controversy. Her comments on the tape were the most offensive. In an exclusive interview, she talked to LAist Studios for a new podcast “Imperfect Paradise: Nury & The Secret Tapes."

“There is no way I could undo what I said, or undo the hurt that I created,” she says on the podcast. “So the only thing I knew how to do was hand over my responsibilities as a council president and make sure that I didn't mess up anything else there.”

Krekorian replaced the often confrontational and sometimes bellicose Martinez as council president.

“The difference is dramatic,” said Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson. “They have a very different style and personality.”

He said Krekorian “refrains from strong-arming” the council.

Rob Quan heads Unrig LA, an organization focused on money in politics and representative government in the city. He’s a regular observer of the council.

“The biggest thing was it dislodged a tyrannical council president,” Quan said of the release of the audio recording. In the podcast, Martinez said she believed she was a fair president who championed the rights of working families.

Krekorian prides himself on collegiality and believes it's been important to moving the council beyond the controversy.

“My style is to welcome debate, to welcome different viewpoints,” he told LAist.

Progressives have gained a foothold

It's also a vastly different council.

Seven of the 15 members joined it in the past year. None of them had ever held elected office.

And the council leans decidedly more left.

“Things that I didn’t think would necessarily pass previously like renter protections are passing unanimously,” said Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College.

The more progressive council has focused less on the role of policing in addressing homelessness — something that in the past produced acrimonious debate and protests. Some council members continue to request the use of LAPD officers under Municipal Code 41.18 to remove unhoused people from around schools and daycare centers. But any debate is cordial if there is one at all, said Harris-Dawson.

It helps that Mayor Karen Bass, who took office just two months after the release of the tape, generally opposes the use of LAPD officers to remove unhoused people from encampments and has centered attention on her Inside Safe program.

“I think having a new mayor has breathed new life into the council,” Sadhwani said. “You see the mayor’s call to lock arms being quite effective at pulling the council members together.”

An outcry for reform

Amid calls for government reform, Krekorian in December created an ad hoc committee to examine changes to L.A. city government. On Thursday, that committee voted to refer to the full council charter amendments to create an independent redistricting commission.

If passed by voters, it could be one of the biggest changes to result from the release of the audio recording.

Removing the once-every-10-years redrawing of council district boundaries from council members and handing it over to an independent panel would end the kind of backroom dealing heard on the audio, supporters of the idea have said.

It's not a new idea. Reformers have been lobbying for it for years. The state and L.A. county already use independent commissions.

The City Council Ad Hoc Committee on Governance Reform took public comment on a proposal to establish an independent redistricting commission at a hearing on Oct. 5, 2023.

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The release of the tapes breathed new life into the idea for the city.

The ad hoc committee is also considering a proposal to increase the size of the council.

Expanding the council would mean each council member would represent fewer people and, ideally, be more responsive to constituents. It is also an old idea that’s gained support.

Sadhwani is part of the L.A. Governance Reform Project, which is making proposals to the council reform committee on independent redistricting, council size, and changes to ethics laws. So is Gary Segura, dean of the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA and part of the Latino Policy and Politics Institute at the university. He said the project’s aim is to “ensure a governance structure that secures fair and adequate voice for all Los Angeles communities.”

“Structures have a big impact on how people behave,” Segura said.

It’s up to the full council to decide whether to place the reforms on the ballot — likely in November 2024. But it may be eight years — during the next redistricting process — before the changes are implemented. That frustrates reform advocates who say any changes should be implemented immediately.

“It's the same old City Hall culture of doing far too little too late,” said Quan, who noted Krekorian’s committee has yet to vote on what reformers say is the much needed strengthening of city ethics laws.

“Until you have some reforms that bolster our Ethics Commission, it’s all for not,” said Sadhwani.

Krekorian has said he intends to place ethics on the agenda at a future date.

The power play behind the racist comments

The anti-Black, anti-Indigenous and other derogatory language used on the tapes shocked and angered many people. But the discussion around carving up council districts based on race surprised few.

Martinez and the others can be heard lamenting that half the city’s population is Latino, but Latinos hold only four of 15 council seats. In the course of the conversation, de León is heard saying essentially that Black people have too much power. Black people represent about 8% of the L.A. population and hold three seats on the council.

While the comments were denounced in both Black and Latino communities, there’s likely “simmering tension” over what was heard on the tape, Segura said.

“I suspect there is a hangover,” he said. “Distrust between and among communities is inevitable when you play zero sum politics.”

Sadhwani said the Governance Reform Project will take those dynamics into account.

“I think there are still conversations about race relations in the city that haven’t yet been had, and I hope we don’t just gloss over these dynamics,” she said.

How the renters rights movement fits in

A woman calls for rent relief as a coalition of activist groups and labor unions participate in a May Day march for workers' and human rights in Los Angeles on May 1, 2021.

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One aspect of the conversation on the tapes that is often forgotten is how Martinez and others were scheming to dilute the power of renters in the city. It was not just a conversation.

The city council under Martinez’s leadership approved a redistricting map that changed the constituency of Councilmember Nithya Raman — a champion of renters rights — by 40%.

The result: Raman faces a tough reelection battle next year.

No other councilmember’s district changed by more than 18% and most changed by single digits or not at all, according to a New York Times analysis.

In the wake of the release of the tapes, state Attorney General Rob Bonta announced an investigation to determine if the conversation violated the state Voting Rights Act as it pertains to redistricting. A statement from Bonta’s office last week said the investigation is ongoing.

Whether the conversation was illegal, it added to the perception that there exists a culture of corruption at L.A. City Hall. Over recent years, three former members of the council, and more than a half dozen City Hall staffers and others have been convicted of various charges, including bribery and obstruction of justice.

Krekorian rejects the idea of any cultural problem.

“That suggests that corrupt intent is widespread..at City Hall and I refuse to accept that’s true,” he said.

The council president said this the day after Councilmember John Lee was accused of ethics violations. Lee has denied the allegations.

A year later, Council politics are still ‘challenging’

Council members are seated alphabetically around the horseshoe of desks inside city council chambers. That means Harris-Dawson, who is Black, sits next to de León, who expressed anti-Black sentiment on the tape.

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“It's challenging,” Harris-Dawson said. “It tests my home training.”

After the tape scandal, de León was removed from all of his committees and censured by the council. Every other member has called on him to resign. He’s convinced his constituents will forgive him and re-elect him to a second term next year.

One of the enduring mysteries surrounding the tape is who recorded it. Using unnamed sources, Los Angeles Magazine has reported it was a union bookkeeper who was spying on Herrera, the labor leader, whom he believed was sleeping with his wife. Neither the union nor the LAPD, which is investigating the potentially illegal secret recording, has commented.

On Friday, Councilmember Kevin de León and former council member Gil Cedillo filed separate lawsuits over the release of the tape, alleging it did permanent harm to their reputations as well as invasion of privacy and negligence. The lawsuits name the bookkeeper and his wife, both of whom are no longer employed by the Federation of Labor. Cedillo also names the federation. The tape is believed to have been recorded during a meeting at the federation’s offices.

An equally intriguing mystery is who leaked the tapes and why a year after it was recorded. Police searched the Eagle Rock home of the bookkeper and his wife in July with a search warrant alleging eavesdropping and destroying or concealing evidence. Neither has been charged.

There is an argument that the release a month before the 2022 mayoral election was to foment anti-politician attitudes and help businessman Rick Caruso beat Mayor Karen Bass. That obviously didn’t work. Besides, the opposite can be argued — that only a Black mayor could heal the city after the release of a recording featuring racist comments.

Harris-Dawson is well aware of the challenges facing City Hall one year after the bombshell of the tapes.

“We are fighting for our credibility,” he said.

Joseph Babbitt of Springfield, Mo. has a pretty good deal when it comes to health insurance. He works as a senior financial controller for West Plains Veterinary Supply, which employs about 50 people and distributes pet food, toys and vet supplies across the region.

Like about 157 million Americans, Babbitt gets insurance through his job. Unlike most Americans, his job has exceptionally generous benefits. "Our owners are very nice — they give all of our employees healthcare and they pay for it," he says. The company offers several different plan options and covers most or all of the monthly premium cost.

So why, even with free premiums, does it still feel like health costs are way too expensive? "Everybody talks about healthcare and how much it's costing them," says Babbitt. He explains that even without monthly premiums, a high deductible can be brutal — that's the amount the patient has to spend out-of-pocket before the insurance company starts paying for doctors visits and procedures, etc.

Now age 60, he remembers a time when it wasn't so bad. "Back in the '90s, our deductibles were $250 [or] $500 — now they're $5,000," he says. "That seems like a lot."

"We are the only country on our planet that forces people into bankruptcy because they get sick," he adds.

The cost of a new car, every year

Healthcare costs are rising fast in the U.S., and even workers with solid healthcare benefits through work are feeling it, according to an annual survey of nearly 2,000 employers about their health benefits. The report was published Thursday by KFF, a nonpartisan health research organization.

"The average health insurance premium for a family of four is now $28,000, which is just a ton of money," says Matthew Rae, associate director for the Health Care Marketplace Program at KFF. "It's basically the cost of a new car every year just to keep a family of four insured." Of that total for family premiums, workers pay about $7,000 per year on average and employers pay the rest.

A glimmer of positivity is that the costs for plans isn't growing as fast as it has in years past, he explains. "We're seeing a 5% increase in family health insurance premiums, which continues a period of modest growth," he says. That increase is roughly on par with worker wages and inflation.

However, "a 5% increase on a big number is still a lot of money," Rae points out. Plus, the growth for the portion of the premium costs that workers pay was 9%. "If this is the beginning of a shift of costs onto workers, that would be a big deal in terms of affordability," he says.

"We are asking people to chip in a lot of money," Rae adds. "Many people are committing a big chunk of their income to health insurance."

The uninsured rate is rising 

Another report published Thursday demonstrates the way these high costs affect people's health. The survey, conducted every two years by the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit foundation that supports independent research, is entitled "The State of Health Insurance Coverage in 2026."

Even for workers fortunate enough to have health benefits, "about 43% of them said that they didn't get healthcare because of cost over the past year, and about 31% reported that they had medical debt," says Sara Collins, lead author of the report.

Another key finding was that the overall uninsured rate rose in the last two years. Collins says that's significant but not surprising, because of federal policy decisions like letting extra federal subsidies for people enrolled in Affordable Care Act plans expire, and people losing Medicaid after the pandemic emergency ended.

Federal data shows millions of people have lost health coverage already from either Medicaid or the ACA marketplaces. When work requirements take effect next year, millions more people are projected to lose Medicaid.

"There is a, I think, a strong feeling across the country that something probably does need to be done to the situation that people are facing in their health and health insurance — both on the cost side and then also on these coverage losses," Collins says.

"We asked people whether the federal government has a responsibility to ensure that all Americans have coverage and nearly three quarters said yes to that — that included about 45% of Republicans, 93% of Democrats and 76% of independents."

Copyright 2026 NPR

Mike Obedoza’s Lumpia Smash Burger begins with the flavorful marinade his mother uses for making lumpia, a crispy Filipino spring roll. He folds it into a beef patty, then tops it with a fried lumpia wrapper, creamy avocado slices and fresh jalapeño.

For Obedoza, who grew up in Carson as the son of Filipino immigrants and now resides in Tustin, the burger is more than a winning recipe. “This is me on a plate,” he said.

Fresh off back-to-back Best Burger wins at the Old Towne Burger Fest in Orange County, Obedoza has landed a residency at Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. as Banger Lumpia.

He attributes his current success to the broader Filipino American food moment happening in Southern California, from Lord Maynard Llera of Kuya Lord winning Best Chef: California at the 2024 James Beard Awards to other Filipino food business upstarts' local success, including San & Wolves in Long Beach.

Mike Obedoza works the griddle, making Filipino-American Smashburger dreams come true.

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“I’m one component of a whole movement that’s happening right now,” he said.

His residency closes this weekend as part of Filipino American History Month, capping off a whirlwind couple of months Obedoza doesn’t take for granted, especially the love he's received from his own community.

“We get a lot of Filipinos that pass by us glowing. … They’re stoked that there’s some Filipino representation,” he said.

Building the burger

Before Banger Lumpia, Obedoza’s pop-up was called Banger, and he folded Filipino flavors like sisig into tacos. Once customers learned the food was Filipino, they kept asking for the classics. “Where’s the lumpia? Where’s the pancit?” he recalled.

Since lumpia filling is marinated ground meat, a burger felt like the natural next step. Obedoza took the marinade from his mother’s lumpia recipe (onions, carrots, soy sauce and fish sauce) and worked it into an all-beef smash patty.

Back-to-back wins: Obedoza’s Lumpia Smashburger took home Best Burger at the Old Towne Burger Fest in 2025 and 2026.

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Jalapeño and avocado add a California finish. “It’s like this perfect blend of being Filipino and Californian,” Obedoza said.

The idea has deep roots in Southern California. Obedoza points to Kogi, the Korean taco truck Roy Choi launched in L.A., which Choi said drew on a kind of local terroir. “I don’t see mustard plants and sheep grazing,” Choi said in a 2014 CNN segment with Anthony Bourdain. “I see barbed wire and telephone poles.”

“It’s a representation of the soil we were raised in," Obedoza said. “I think the Lumpia Smash burger is just my version of that.”

From skater to chef

Growing up in Carson, Obedoza found his creative outlet in rollerblading, competing and filming for sponsors. His favorite skater was Jon Julio, a Filipino American legend of the sport. “That was big for someone, a Filipino growing up in America,” Obedoza said. “I can’t think of anyone else at that time that was a representation of that.”

Obedoza studied hotel and restaurant management at Cal Poly Pomona, where a broken ankle from a skate competition pushed him to get serious about cooking. After graduating in 2007, he completed an accelerated program at the Culinary Institute of America in Greystone in St. Helena. Then, in 2008, he took a trip to the Philippines with his dad that reshaped how he saw himself.

From the skate park to the griddle, Banger Lumpia’s Mike Obedoza puts his whole self on the plate.

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“In the States, I’m Filipino. But when I go there, I’m American,” he said.

Back home, he cooked at hotels including Hyatt and Terranea Resort before moving into marketing and e-commerce. In 2022, he started serving tacos at skate parks under the name Banger. He went full-time in 2023 and has been popping up in L.A. and O.C. ever since.

That same cultural tension carries over into his food. While his Lumpia Smash burger has won praise, Obedoza says some Filipino customers pick apart the more traditional dishes on his menu: the lumpia isn’t made right, they say, the dipping sauce and adobo need more sugar, the adobo isn’t dark enough or has no bone.

“I guess I win on the burgers, but I’ll never win on being Filipino enough,” he said.

He said his cooking reflects his parents’ style and their home region of Central Luzon, north of Manila on the Philippines’ largest island. If it doesn’t match what someone grew up with, he says to get it from their own family.

Despite those differences, Obedoza says that lumpia is “the gateway drug to Filipino food” and hopes that his customers will feel emboldened to try the rest of the menu. He sees the Grand Central Market residency as a test run for an eventual brick-and-mortar. Whatever comes next, he credits one choice: “I went all in on being unique.”

Julia Feinberg feels like she’s living in a sinister version of Groundhog Day. For the second year in a row, California lawmakers have made it tougher for seniors and people with disabilities to qualify for state-funded health benefits.

Feinberg, 37, who has a degenerative neuromuscular disorder, said without Medi-Cal she would be confined to a nursing home rather than living and working as a therapist in Oakland.

“We keep having to have the same fight over and over and over again,” Feinberg said. She requires a power wheelchair and about 19 hours of caregiving each day, which Medi-Cal covers.

California is cutting Medi-Cal after a decade of expansion, part of sweeping federal and state cuts that experts estimate will kick more than 2.2 million Californians off coverage in the next four years, doubling the state’s uninsured rate.

The latest cut came in June, when state leaders approved a budget that will lower the asset limit for low-income seniors and people with disabilities to $21,000 to qualify for Medi-Cal, starting in July 2027. Feinberg, who has built up emergency savings, will have to spend about $10,000 to get under the cap.

In 2024, the state eliminated longstanding Medi-Cal asset limits, but since then lawmakers have chipped away at that policy. At the beginning of this year, state leaders reinstated an asset limit of $130,000, and the June budget lowered it further.

A primary residence and one vehicle are exempt from the new limit, but people 65 and older as well as those with disabilities cannot own a second home or car, and they can’t have more than $21,000 in savings accounts, certain retirement accounts, life insurance policies or even burial plots. They must still meet Medi-Cal income eligibility limits of about $1,800 a month for a single person.

Advocates say the rules unfairly target older people and those with disabilities.

“It’s really expensive to be disabled,” said Elizabette Guéçamburu, 44, who like Feinberg has spinal muscular atrophy and requires a power wheelchair as well as daily caregiving.

Guéçamburu said she’s saving up for a used wheelchair-accessible van, which costs about $75,000. Home modifications such as adding ramps and making bathrooms accessible also cost tens of thousands of dollars, none of which are covered by Medi-Cal. Guéçamburu said those expenses would be impossible to afford if she couldn’t save.

Guéçamburu lives on her family’s farm in Patterson where they grow walnuts, almonds and alfalfa. She works part time as the farm’s bookkeeper. In 2024, doctors diagnosed Guéçamburu’s father with prostate cancer, and he could no longer act as her caregiver. The same year, California eliminated asset limits for people with disabilities and seniors — Guéçamburu cried, able to qualify for Medi-Cal for the first time.

“The timing was a godsend,” she said.

Now, her aging father is unable to take care of her should she lose Medi-Cal, and Guéçamburu is struggling to figure out what to do with money left to her by her grandmother. She’ll likely have to put it into a special needs trust controlled by a family member and give up financial independence. She also had her family strike her from inheriting any portion of their 100-year-old farm. Private home care costs thousands of dollars a month, making it hard for lower- and middle-income people to pay for it out-of-pocket.

“I have to surrender our legacy just to have medical security and have the ability to live my life,” Guéçamburu said.

Asset limit flip-flop

Gov. Gavin Newsom eliminated Medi-Cal asset requirements in 2024 after a yearslong campaign by senior and disability rights advocates. In a statement before the elimination, Newsom said he was proud of the “bold investments” his administration was making to “protect life savings and homes.”

But two years later, faced with a $12 billion budget shortfall, Newsom proposed reinstating the former $2,000 limit, arguing that more than twice as many people enrolled as previously estimated. The Legislature opposed that proposal and compromised at the current higher limit of $130,000, lowering it again to $21,000 starting next July.

Lindsay Imai Hong, California director for Hand In Hand, an advocacy group supporting families that need caregiving, said organizers are looking to the next governor for change.

“We would love to see the asset test permanently taken off of the chopping block,” Imai Hong said.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said in a statement to CalMatters that he opposes asset limits. He criticized the state for extending other Medi-Cal benefits beyond what it could afford, including coverage for immigrants without legal status.

“Seniors and people with disabilities shouldn’t lose their coverage because they’ve managed to save some money. They’ve done the responsible thing. Why punish them for it?” he said.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate and front-runner Xavier Becerra did not answer specific questions about the asset limit policy, but a campaign spokesperson blamed the Trump administration’s federal cuts for “squeezing” California’s Medi-Cal program.

Becerra will be “focused on protecting access to care and demand savings that are real, measurable and sustainable,” spokesperson Johnathan Underland said. On the campaign trail, Becerra has called himself California’s next “healthcare governor” and has previously floated raising taxes to reverse Medi-Cal cuts, but has not released detailed health policy plans.

Camille Nguyen, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County, said most people who struggle to stay under the limit have little financial security.

“They have all of their life savings in cash savings instead of a house. That's their retirement. That is the amount they are expecting to live off of for the rest of their life,” Nguyen said.

State data shows about 600 people lost Medi-Cal when California reinstated the $130,000 limit. Advocates expect many more to lose Medi-Cal at the lower limit, but the state never released budget estimates before lawmakers approved the $21,000 limit. If the state reinstated the much lower $2,000 limit, the Department of Finance estimated 62,000 seniors and people with disabilities would lose Medi-Cal over two years.

Limit fuels anxiety, anger among people with disabilities

Feinberg said the prospect of losing Medi-Cal is especially scary because she would also lose access to a special disability program that pays for extra caregiving hours and has a multiyear waitlist. Caregivers help Feinberg get in and out of bed, dress and prepare her meals.

Before the limit was erased in 2024, Feinberg said she checked her bank account every day to make sure the balance was low. At the time, Feinberg was a graduate student and did not earn very much money. Now, as a licensed therapist Feinberg has been able to squirrel away some money.

“I don’t want to spend down that money. I want to save that for retirement, maybe buying a house in the future,” Feinberg said. “The prospect of not being able to have a nest egg is very unsettling.”

Guéçamburu said she’s angry and frustrated that the state views services for people with disabilities as expendable.

“It’s exhausting to have to justify your existence every legislative cycle,” she said.

Supported by the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), which works to ensure that people have access to the care they need, when they need it, at a price they can afford. Visit www.chcf.org to learn more.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.