L.A. Politicians To Lose Committee Positions Over Race Scandal

The two men have refused widespread calls to step down despite condemnation that led the City Council president to resign last week.

The head of the Los Angeles City Council stripped two members of much of their power Monday to pressure them to resign for participating in a private meeting in which they did not object to a colleague's crude and racist remarks and at times joined in the offensive banter.

Acting Council President Mitch O'Farrell removed Gil Cedillo and Kevin de Leon from committee chairmanships and assignments and named them instead to a board that rarely meets as he turned up the heat on the veteran Democratic politicians.

"These members have lost all credibility, all standing," O'Farrell said at a City Hall news conference.