Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — One day after the union representing the Los Angeles Police Department’s rank-and-file criticized City Council candidate Ysabel Jurado for saying “F– the police” at a meeting with college students, the organization released a digital ad urging voters in the 14th District not to support her.
In addition to the digital ad, the Los Angeles Police Protective League launched a website Oct. 22, JuradoPolicePlan.com, which they say is intended to expose the candidate’s “attack on local police officers.”
Douglas Emmett Management and the league spent $100,000 for the ad, according to the website.
Meanwhile, a group of 14th District residents organized a news conference to call on Jurado to apologize for her comments and drop out of the council race.
“What she had said about the police is disrespectful and it tells me she does not deserve a position on City Council,” said Richard Zaldivar, founder and executive director of The Wall Las Memorials Project, an HIV/AIDS nonprofit for Latinos. “When you’re a member of the City Council, you are there to represent all city employees.”
In response to Tuesday’s actions from those opposing Jurado’s campaign, Naomi Villagomez Roochnik, spokeswoman for the candidate, emphasized they are continuing to “knock on doors and meet voters where they’re at to have real conversations about the issues important to them, not hide from the people of CD-14.”
During the Oct. 17 meeting with students at Cal State Los Angeles, a man who identified himself as a resident of the 14th Council District the tenant rights attorney is seeking to represent asked Jurado her thoughts on police spending. Jurado responded with a lyric from a 1988 protest song of the same name by the Compton-based hip hop group N.W.A.
The exchange was recorded and later posted by the local news website Westside Current.
In a statement Oct. 21, Jurado defended her comments, saying she quoted a lyric from a song that’s been “part of a larger conversation on system injustice and police accountability for decades.”
Juardo added that she is committed to public safety.
But the remark drew criticism from the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union representing LAPD officers.
“(Expletive) the police, that’s how I see them,” the union stated, quoting Jurado. “Ysabel Jurado revealed her true colors on how she views police officers who protect the residents of Los Angeles. She’s made it clear that she will jeopardize public safety for failed social experiments by pulling police off of crimes like retail thefts, car thefts, smash-and-grab robberies, hate crimes, and more.”
Councilman Kevin de León, who is seeking reelection to represent the district stretching from downtown Los Angeles to Eagle Rock, called Juardo’s comments “simply disrespectful.”
“I stand where I’ve always stood, 100% behind our frontline officers who go out every day risking their lives to protect Angelenos across the city,” de León said in a statement.
Jurado said it’s not enough to be tough on crime, then pivoted to discussing how police misconduct has put the city on the edge of fiscal emergency.
“We’re in this mess because of reckless decisions, including massive payouts for police misconduct,” she said. “The result? A city broke, unable to fix busted sidewalks, broken streetlights, or trim trees — services that keep us safe and whole; services that we desperately need.
“We’ve got to be tough and smart, and operate with the fiscal responsibility necessary to fix our lopsided budget. And I’m prepared to work with whoever I need to — whether it’s the LAPD or colleagues I may not always see eye to eye with — because my priority is delivering for our district, plain and simple. Our campaign is about real solutions, not distractions.”
Jose Herrera is a reporter for City News Service.
