Son of L.A. City Council President Herb Wesson says he’s repaid the LAPD for his wedding security
The son of Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson said Monday that he and his wife have reimbursed the city for $2,768 in security services provided at their wedding.
The Times reported last week that the Los Angeles Police Department, at taxpayer expense, assigned four officers and a sergeant to the wedding of Justin Wesson and Alexis Marin, a staffer for Councilwoman Nury Martinez.
An LAPD spokesman said at the time that the city was not reimbursed for 38 hours of wedding security provided at the Sept. 9 event. But on Monday, after a series of inquiries from The Times, Wesson’s office sent a statement from Justin Wesson saying he has decided to cover the security costs.
“While we had no control over the LAPD’s decision to assign officers to protect city leaders at our wedding, we want to remove even the hint that there was any special consideration for our event, so we have reimbursed LAPD,” he said in an emailed statement.
Justin Wesson, who is viewed as a possible council candidate in the 2020 election, did not say in his statement what day the payment was made and did not respond when The Times asked. He has been an aide to his father since 2011 and currently earns $103,188 annually, said a spokesman for the personnel department.
Marin, his wife, earns $90,376 a year as the legislative director for Martinez.
Mayor Eric Garcetti, who attended the wedding but not the reception, had his own two-person LAPD security detail with him at the event, said a mayoral spokesman.
The LAPD referred questions about the reimbursement to Wesson’s office. But last week, former Police Chief Charlie Beck defended the decision to send officers to the Wesson-Marin wedding, saying the department provides security for events with “high-profile people who are at elevated risk.”
Herb Wesson, the council president, raised the issue of public safety threats two years ago, discussing his experience receiving a public comment card that featured drawings of a burning cross and a man hanging from a tree — images typically associated with the Ku Klux Klan — and a racial slur.
Wesson said he considered that card, submitted at a meeting by attorney Wayne Spindler, to be a potential threat to his family and the city workforce. The city’s lawyers later obtained a restraining order requiring Spindler to stay at least 100 yards away from Wesson’s home, car and city office.
The order said Spindler, who frequently testifies at council meetings, could continue to attend public city meetings and participate in public comment.
Despite Wesson’s statements, prosecutors in Dist. Atty. Jackie Lacey’s office opted against prosecuting Spindler for making a criminal threat against Wesson, citing 1st Amendment concerns and other factors. Prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Spindler crossed the line between “constitutionally protected speech and punishable ‘true threat.’”
Spindler denied that he made a threat and later filed a federal lawsuit against the city, arguing that his free speech and other constitutional rights had been violated.
The Times is at odds with the city over security expenditures. The newspaper sued the city last month after officials refused to provide records on security costs for out-of-state trips taken by Garcetti.
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