A pie sat waiting as the Los Angeles City Council returned to work last week following Councilmember Nithya Raman’s election as mayor, an outcome all 14 of her council colleagues opposed.
The pie, perched on a table in a room behind council chambers, had one word written on it, in icing, according to two council staffers: Humble.
The dessert was thrown away uneaten, but humble pie was what the council members were eating Tuesday as they congratulated the mayor-elect.
“Full disclosure, you know that I didn’t support you last week,” said Councilmember Curren Price. “But you’ve got my full support now.”
A beaming Raman had entered the council chambers flanked by her council staff and campaign aides, along with a new security detail befitting her higher profile. A bouquet of flowers, an official proclamation and a (brief) standing ovation by her council colleagues followed later in the morning.
Raman listened attentively as, one by one, council members sitting around the horseshoe offered their olive branches. Then she bestowed one of her own.
“We are all here because we love L.A. and want to make it better,” Raman said. “That passion sometimes makes us get spicy about the differences we have on how we get there.”
“I am here to be spicy with you and to get through it and to find the outcome that works for all of us,” she said.
Not only had Raman’s council colleagues opposed her in favor of incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, but several of them had grown increasingly hostile toward her as the campaign wore on.
Councilmember Imelda Padilla called her stint on the Raman-chaired Housing and Homelessness Committee “unproductive.” Councilmember Monica Rodriguez said Raman’s last-minute decision to challenge her former ally Bass was “disgusting” and “backstabbing.” And Councilmember Traci Park questioned whether Raman “stands for anything at all.”
Park didn’t endorse Bass, but said she would vote for her. Every other member of the council — including Raman’s fellow members of Democratic Socialists of America Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado and Hugo Soto-Martínez — were solidly behind Bass.
But the energy in chambers Tuesday was of forced celebration as council members congratulated Raman and said they looked forward to working with her on issues where they had alignment.
Even Padilla and Rodriguez offered tempered congratulations to the mayor-elect.
“Where we align we will work together and where we don’t I will be fiercely opposing,” Rodriguez said.
Sara Sadhwani, a professor of politics at Pomona College, said the peace offerings weren’t a surprise.
“The council members will need the mayor. She’s the person who approves the budget and can spotlight their priorities,” Sadhwani said. “Politicians are rational actors, so they are making a calculated pivot to play nice. Let’s see how long it lasts.”
Mike Bonin, a progressive former council member who now runs the Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs at Cal State Los Angeles, said he believes that the council tension has been overstated and that the current drama is nothing compared with when three council members and a high-level labor leader were heard on secretly recorded audio having a conversation that featured racist and derogatory remarks.
“Nithya will probably start with greater headwinds than other mayors. Usually mayors get a bigger honeymoon. But most council members want to get [stuff] done for their districts. You don’t want in most cases to have a combative relationship with the mayor,” he said.
As Raman ascends to mayor, the City Council must address other questions as well. One is whether Marqueece Harris-Dawson will maintain his position as council president.
Harris-Dawson and Raman clashed during the campaign when he removed her as chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, which she said was political retaliation for her decision to challenge Bass. Harris-Dawson said the move was not political.
Harris-Dawson, despite endorsing Bass and being the mayor’s closest ally on the council, has said he plans to remain in the role of council president, though rumors have circulated about other council members potentially being interested in the job.
Harris-Dawson has taken meetings with Raman over the last week and spoken positively about the mayor-elect since her win, and the two jointly addressed reporters during council Tuesday.
“That campaign was nine months. We’ve worked together for six years,” Harris-Dawson said. “I don’t have any doubt and I don’t think she has any doubt that we’re going to be able to work together.”
The council also has to decide how to fill Raman’s seat when she vacates her position after being sworn in next month. Harris-Dawson said that probably won’t be decided until after the council’s winter recess.
