"I know I am the future of my people," Councilmember José Huizar reportedly told Latino author Tony Castro in the course of several interviews over the years. "I've been preparing myself for this all my life. I'm ready."

But eight years after Huizar rose from relative political obscurity to join the Los Angeles City Council, replacing the CD 14 seat vacated by Antonio Villaraigosa after he became mayor, the Boyle Heights native is the focus of a sex scandal that might ruin his career if he doesn't recover from it.

Huizar is the first Latino immigrant to become a member of any major American city's city council, writes Castro in an opinion piece in VOXXI, a website that describes itself as "an independent voice for Hispanic America, committed to transforming the digital media landscape and catapulting Latinos into the forefront of American dialogue."

What's more, Huizar was "likable, attractive, smart and educated and connected in a way Villaraigosa wasn't," says the author, adding that Huizar's bid to get re-elected to the city council in 2015 could be "the ultimate test of any damage to [his] illustrious public career."