Endorsement: Hugo Soto-Martínez for Los Angeles City Council District 13 in Los Angeles
When a group of men on bikes ride through the streets of downtown L.A., you know they’re heading to the nearest bar to drown their sorrows with beer, beer, and more beer.
These are the men in Hugo Soto-Martínez’s eyes. He’s not your typical politician. It’s no secret he’s a Laker fan. And, if you know him personally, you won’t hear him curse in the streets. Instead he says stuff like, “I wish we could have given Dwight Howard’s son a scholarship to Loyola. And I don’t want to have to have this conversation again after we got done cheering for Dwight.”
But what Soto-Martínez really enjoys are the things we all enjoy: beer; women; spending time with his family; shooting hoops; going on nice dinners with friends. He says, “I know I love LA, a city I love. But honestly I would go to L.A. if I could.”
Soto-Martínez is a Republican, he loves sports, and he lives in the Valley. He does have a bit of a problem: In May of 2012, one of his campaign signs mysteriously disappeared.
His supporters believe that Soto-Martínez’s supporters stole his sign because, after the election, Republican voters gave him a much lower endorsement than his two opponents combined. In the end, he got about 25 percent of the vote. This led to a lawsuit, and a court ordered Soto-Martínez to pay up.
Soto-Martínez, however, won’t pay. He says he would rather give the money to charity. He’s also suing the people who stole his sign. The first letter (for $50,000) and all costs and lawyer’s fees (for $1 million) were sent to his lawyer.
Now Soto-Martínez says,“If you’re an ordinary family in this neighborhood you’re not going to be comfortable where I’m taking the money