A newly-established progressive political organization, the West Valley People’s Alliance, is questioning the leadership in Los Angeles City Council District 12 after former Councilmember Mitchell Englander pleaded guilty to lying to federal agents during a corruption investigation.
Council District 12 serves the Northridge, Chatsworth, Granada Hills, North Hills, Porter Ranch, Reseda, Sherwood Forest and West Hills communities within the San Fernando Valley.
The WVPA launched an online petition calling for an ethics investigation into current CD-12 Councilmember John Lee, who is allegedly implicated in the bribery scandal that landed Englander, his former boss, in cuffs.
Lee served as Englander’s chief of staff until June 2017. Lee won a special election to replace Englander on the council after Englander’s sudden resignation in December 2018. Englander had represented CD-12 since 2011.
The WVPA is calling on L.A. City Council President Nury Martinez to remove Lee from the Planning and Land Use Management Committee, also known as PLUM. Englander and Councilmember Jose Huizar of CD-14 served on the PLUM committee; both are facing racketeering charges after being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The focal point of the investigation into Englander is a trip to Las Vegas in 2017, where he accepted bribes.
The FBI outlined several attendees who were on the trip. “City Staffer B” is described in the grand jury indictment as “a high-ranking staff member for defendant Englander until approximately June 2017.”
Lee served as Englader’s chief of staff when the Las Vegas trip happened, but he was not named in the document. In March, Lee confirmed he was on the Las Vegas trip with Englander.
The WVPA have been advocating for the Northridge East Neighborhood Council Board Meeting agenda item that would send a letter of inquiry as to whether or not Lee was “City Staffer B” as outlined in Englander’s indictment. On July 6, the Executive Committee voted 3–1–0 in favor of inquiring.
We’ve compiled a timeline of events involving Englander in the City Council scandal, collected from the Englander grand jury indictment.
*The dates are approximations based on the information provided in the indictment.