Embattled LA Councilman Jose Huizar Removed From All Committee Assignments

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – About a week after FBI agents raided his home and office, longtime Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar has been removed from several council committees.

Council President Herb Wesson sent a letter to the L.A. City Clerk Thursday which disclosed that Wesson was being pulled from his assignments with the Economic Development Committee, the Homelessness and Poverty Committee, the Rules Elections and Intergovernmental Relations Committee and from his chairmanship of the Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

According to the Los Angeles Municipal Code, the council president has the power to appoint the members and chairs of all of the committees.

On the morning of Nov. 7, FBI agents served search warrants at Huizar's fourth-floor office in City Hall and his home in the 600 block of Brittania Street in Boyle Heights.

The FBI would not elaborate on the nature of its investigation, citing that the warrant had been sealed.

Huizar represents District 13, which is mostly made up by the Boyle Heights area. He has not publicly commented on the situation.

Huizar has faced several legal issues since taking office in 2005. In 2012, he was involved in a traffic accident in which he rear-ended another vehicle. The city was forced to pay up to $185,000 as part of a settlement.

In 2014, the city settled a sexual harassment lawsuit filed by a former staff member.

Huizar was named in two new lawsuits filed in October by two former employees who accused him of doctoring his schedule to hide certain meetings from the media, along with other ethics violations, including that his staff was pressured to work during city time on the campaign of his wife, Richelle Huizar, who is running in the 2020 election to succeed Huizar in the 13th District.

Huizar is prevented from running again due to term limits when his current term expires in 2020.