Los Angeles Mayor 2022: Bass vs Caruso

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/kdeleon/status/1440345170663272448
I like Kevin a lot as many of you know I volunteered for him for months when he was running against Difi. I might not vote for him though. According to the progressive groups I'm in Karen Bass is poised to enter the race soon as well as Nury Martinez the city council president. It's shaping up to be an interesting race! I wish we had RCV like NYC does.
How do you all see this race going?

[Canis]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-16/la-me-council-president-nury-martinez-mayor
Nury Martinez is officially out wow is Kevin clearing the field? Or is this in anticipation of Bass hopping in?

[Canis]

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-city-attorney-mike-feuer-wants-to-double-size-of-city-council-slash-salaries/

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer said Monday that if elected mayor, he would pursue a ballot measure to double the number of City Council districts — while also slashing the salaries of each council member

Doubling the size of the city council is something I 100% support heck id even support tripling it. The city council has way too few members for how populous Los Angeles is. Most people have no idea who their city council member is because of how huge the districts are. I hope KDL and Bass (if she enters support a policy along these lines as well.

[Canis]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-09-24/rep-karen-bass-intends-to-announce-a-run-for-los-angeles-mayor

U.S. Rep Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) intends to launch a campaign for Los Angeles mayor, joining a field of candidates that has rapidly grown over the past week, according to three people familiar with her plans.

Such a move would deliver another shakeup to a contest that had been a sleepy affair for much of the year. Bass, a high-profile Democrat who has served in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C., could announce her entry into the mayor’s race early as next week, those sources told The Times.

If Bass enters the race, she would be a formidable competitor, said Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who described himself as an ally of Bass since 1978.

“Los Angeles is in need of leadership that can bring us together and that can inspire, and I think she is uniquely gifted in that way,” he said. “And it’s what I expect will become rather immediately apparent once she makes her announcement known.”

[Canis]

https://ktla.com/news/local-news/l-a-city-attorney-mike-feuer-wants-to-double-size-of-city-council-slash-salaries/

Los Angeles City Atty. Mike Feuer said Monday that if elected mayor, he would pursue a ballot measure to double the number of City Council districts — while also slashing the salaries of each council member

Doubling the size of the city council is something I 100% support heck id even support tripling it. The city council has way too few members for how populous Los Angeles is. Most people have no idea who their city council member is because of how huge the districts are. I hope KDL and Bass (if she enters support a policy along these lines as well.

Personally I think this cuts both ways - more Council members also means that each individual one is more obscure on a city-wide basis, which in an era when most voters are quite low information on local politics and don't have the means to focus on hyperlocal issues could mean local city council members are more unknown to their voters rather than less.

I disagree the current size of each city council district is so big that you need a campaign that can raise millions to compete and to get your name out there to have enough voters to stand a shot at winning. While I agree it would make each council member less well-known city-wide I think it's more important that people in their districts know who their council member is and can hold them accountable for how they govern.

https://twitter.com/karenbassla/status/1442521023908360192?s=21

Since KDL has gotten in I've been thinking a lot about who id vote for if Bass got in and while I like KDL his taking of developer money and becoming NIMBY is a bridge too far for me and I'm going to vote for Bass was a while out from the election still so my mind might change but yeah. Bass and KDL are definitely the heavy hitters in the race now and the frontrunners to make the runoff.

Buscanio's running a law and order type campaign and is spending a lot so he's a dark horse to make the runoff along with Rick Caruso if he enters the race whose a former republican mall mogul as he would likely be able to get a big chunk of the Republican vote which if the field is split enough could definitely be enough to make the runoff. Theirs a good chance that the conservative vote gets split between the two if Caruso enters though making the chance of a KDL vs Bass runoff more likely.. I don't think Feuer's got a chance of making the runoff he doesn't really have a base and his name rec is very low.

[Canis]

Bass is the one who turned out to have tons of ties to Scientology, right?

Yeah she didn't stand up to scrutiny during the VP vetting, but she has enough of a local brand to make her a frontrunner, at least initially.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/05/karen-bass-scientology-event-appearance-391749

Bass in the statement issued last weekend explained that she attends a Baptist church in South Los Angeles, and noted prominently that the new building opening was in her district. Bass went on to say she was trying to find an “area of agreement” with the church, which has faced allegations from defectors of intimidation, abuse and human trafficking.

“Back in 2010, I attended the event knowing I was going to address a group of people with beliefs very different than my own, and spoke briefly about things I think most of us agree with, and on those things — respect for different views, equality, and fighting oppression — my views have not changed,” Bass wrote in the statement posted to Twitter. “Since then, published first-hand accounts in books, interviews and documentaries have exposed this group.”

Bass did not include her personal thoughts about Scientology, but she mentioned that “everyone is now aware” of the allegations against it.

I wouldn't say tons of ties to Scientology but she did speak at one of their churches. I think what really took her out of the VP running was her statement praising Castro she has since renounced.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/02/karen-bass-fidel-castro-390413

[Canis]

Bass is the one who turned out to have tons of ties to Scientology, right?

Yeah she didn't stand up to scrutiny during the VP vetting, but she has enough of a local brand to make her a frontrunner, at least initially.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/05/karen-bass-scientology-event-appearance-391749

Bass in the statement issued last weekend explained that she attends a Baptist church in South Los Angeles, and noted prominently that the new building opening was in her district. Bass went on to say she was trying to find an “area of agreement” with the church, which has faced allegations from defectors of intimidation, abuse and human trafficking.

“Back in 2010, I attended the event knowing I was going to address a group of people with beliefs very different than my own, and spoke briefly about things I think most of us agree with, and on those things — respect for different views, equality, and fighting oppression — my views have not changed,” Bass wrote in the statement posted to Twitter. “Since then, published first-hand accounts in books, interviews and documentaries have exposed this group.”

Bass did not include her personal thoughts about Scientology, but she mentioned that “everyone is now aware” of the allegations against it.

I wouldn't say tons of ties to Scientology but she did speak at one of their churches. I think what really took her out of the VP running was her statement praising Castro she has since renounced.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/02/karen-bass-fidel-castro-390413

IIRC, she’s made several statements praising L. Ron Hubbard as a visionary, once in a generation leader or something to that effect.

Just googled it to make sure and it was only in the speech in 2010 where she praised him.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/01/karen-bass-scientology-390077
I agree she shouldn't have done it but this was before most of the information about how bad Scientology is was out to the public.

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/latimes/status/1449054464791433218
Big and somewhat odd endorsement for Bass. Villaraigosa should be ideologically on the other end of the spectrum to Bass but an endorsement from a former mayor of LA is big.

Also, a big race to watch as well is the LA County Sheriff's race
Villaneuva has completely pissed off the Democratic party by doing sweeps of homeless people on Venice beach without the approval of LA city council or mayor and then appearing on Tucker Carlson and claiming he's the only official willing to do "Something" about homelessness. This all culminated in June where the LA county democratic party called on him to resign and the LA County board of supervisors looked into ways to impeach Villanueva. Alex also right before the recall appeared on Larry Elder's show to criticize Newsom and on his official account posted a photo op with him and Larry Elder. The field to replace Villanueva is shaping up fast. Cecil Rhambo the chief of Police at LAX seems to be the top contender at the moment with many endorsements from big part officials and progressive groups.
https://twitter.com/Rhambo4Sheriff/status/1414629766196461573
Chief of police Eli Vera is also in as soon as he announced Villanueva demoted him which just speaks volumes about the strong man complex he's got. Eli Vera seems to be running a campaign in the middle of Villanueva's strong man law and order type campaign and Rhambo's progressive reform campaign pretty much just running on I can get the job done without much controversy. Eric Strong was announced in late August as well as Matt Rodriguez. Here's a LA mag piece with more details about the campaign.
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/la-county-sheriff-race/

LA city's comptroller is shaping up to be an interesting race as well. Former Green Party Congressional candidate Kenneth Meija is running one of the strongest campaigns I've seen here in a while. His visibility is off the charts his campaign bought 2 billboards in downtown LA and his campaign is holding tabling events each week across the city as well as have gone viral on tik too numerous times. His campaign is building a super-strong infrastructure and I'm certain he's going to make the runoff against incumbent Ron Galprien.
https://twitter.com/kennethmejiaLA/status/1337211303727788032

[Canis]

LA city's comptroller is shaping up to be an interesting race as well. Former Green Party Congressional candidate Kenneth Meija is running one of the strongest campaigns I've seen here in a while. His visibility is off the charts his campaign bought 2 billboards in downtown LA and his campaign is holding tabling events each week across the city as well as have gone viral on tik too numerous times. His campaign is building a super-strong infrastructure and I'm certain he's going to make the runoff against incumbent Ron Galprien.
https://twitter.com/kennethmejiaLA/status/1337211303727788032

Is Mejia still running as a Green?

As ERM64man said all municipal and county elections are nonpartisan so all candidates will appear as nonpartisan including Meija. I think he's still registered Green though. Kenneth's raised a lot of money for a grassroots campaign for an office like City comptroller I'm almost certain he'll make the runoff and I think he has a chance of winning. I don't think anyone likes Galperin or the other challengers but also that might just be because I'm seeing Meija stuff everywhere.

[Canis]

Bass had a huge launch event Saturday where she announced the endorsements of Villaraigosa, Judy Chu, George Gascon and actress Tiffany Haddish.
https://twitter.com/ib2_real/status/1449847153069723653
Kenneth Meija was also at the event
https://twitter.com/kennethmejiaLA/status/1449596925183868940

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/PplsCityCouncil/status/1450630777675206659
lol will Villanueva get the same flak as Karen Bass for speaking to the church of Scientology?

[Canis]

Katie Porter endorses Bass
https://twitter.com/KarenBassLA/status/1451967635068014604

[Canis]

Tbh still confused why Bass is running, but w/e.

In other LA news, there's been some redistricting ~ drama ~ especially over Nithya Raman's seat which has also gotten some attention by Jay Kang in the NYT.

Thankfully LA City council trashed the Commission's map and a relatively little change map passed a AD hoc committee and is almost certainly gonna pass.

Joey Buckets is really going after the law and order vote.
https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1462287702414397440

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/JeongPark52/status/1462928521521627142
Kevin De Leon's campaign is off to a pretty bad start
https://twitter.com/LANCWatch/status/1462968882365358083
Also another reminder why Villanueva needs to go
https://twitter.com/GillForLA/status/1462942956659232777

[Canis]

https://www.foxla.com/news/la-mayoral-candidates-to-meet-in-first-public-forum-on-sunday
First debate among the major candidates will be happening tonight Stonewall dems will vote to endorse after the debate so this will be interesting the forum should be streamed here. Karen Bass, Joe Buscaino, Kevin De Leon, Mike Feuer and Jessica Lall will be attending.
https://www.facebook.com/StonewallDemocraticClub


In other news, the LA county sheriff's race has gotten really ugly. Villanueva has accused Rhambo of being a member of one of the deputy gangs (While also claiming deputy gangs don't exist). Rhambo responded by sending a shirtless video to a reporter to prove he doesn't have any affiliated tattoos. Villanueva and Rhambo's campaign's have been blowing up my phone with texts attacking each other. Villanueva has also accused Rhambo of being a Republican who switched party affiliations to run for Sheriff.
https://twitter.com/AleneTchek/status/1469369357247545344
https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1420841905571516418
Its pretty hilarious that Villanueva is accusing Rhambo of being a republican seeing as how just last week Villanueva headlined a LA county GOP fundraiser
https://twitter.com/AleneTchek/status/1466918677580640258
https://twitter.com/Rhambo4Sheriff/status/1469355456606851072

I like Eric Strong's platform more than Rhambo but it seems pretty clear that the race is gonna come down to Rhambo vs Villanueva. Im not sure how I'm gonna vote in the primary yet but this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and important races in the county.

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/JonnyPeltz/status/1470107669415411713
It appears Buscaino and Leon have dropped out of the debate just 2 hours before it was supposed to start! In addition Craig Greiwe founder of Rise Together has been added to the debate. (First time I've heard of him lol)
https://twitter.com/StonewallDems/status/1470161429403635714

[Canis]

Its started

[Canis]

De Leon and Buscaino took some major heat from Stonewall's president over pulling out last minute
https://twitter.com/JonnyPeltz/status/1470186053839437826?s=20

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1470223237200039937

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/RickCarusoLA/status/1485337168293728257
In a huge blow to Busciano's campaign former Republican now NPP Real estate developer Rick Caruso is in for LA Mayor. This greatly benefits KDL and maybe Feuer. As of now the conservative vote will be split between Buscaino and Caruso making it much harder for either of them to get enough support to enter the runoff.

In other News, KDL has picked up his first union endorsements with support of Unite 111 and UFW
https://twitter.com/kdeleon/status/1484246024977670144
https://twitter.com/kdeleon/status/1478886255374966786

https://twitter.com/cerisecastle/status/1479256631623880706?s=20

um ok

Yeah, This is horrible. At the moment I'm in Eric Strong's camp atm but I'm probably not gonna campaign for him it's hard to trust any candidate for sheriff after Villanueva campaigned as a progressive.

[Canis]

https://www.foxla.com/news/la-mayoral-candidates-to-meet-in-first-public-forum-on-sunday
First debate among the major candidates will be happening tonight Stonewall dems will vote to endorse after the debate so this will be interesting the forum should be streamed here. Karen Bass, Joe Buscaino, Kevin De Leon, Mike Feuer and Jessica Lall will be attending.
https://www.facebook.com/StonewallDemocraticClub


In other news, the LA county sheriff's race has gotten really ugly. Villanueva has accused Rhambo of being a member of one of the deputy gangs (While also claiming deputy gangs don't exist). Rhambo responded by sending a shirtless video to a reporter to prove he doesn't have any affiliated tattoos. Villanueva and Rhambo's campaign's have been blowing up my phone with texts attacking each other. Villanueva has also accused Rhambo of being a Republican who switched party affiliations to run for Sheriff.
https://twitter.com/AleneTchek/status/1469369357247545344
https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1420841905571516418
Its pretty hilarious that Villanueva is accusing Rhambo of being a republican seeing as how just last week Villanueva headlined a LA county GOP fundraiser
https://twitter.com/AleneTchek/status/1466918677580640258
https://twitter.com/Rhambo4Sheriff/status/1469355456606851072

I like Eric Strong's platform more than Rhambo but it seems pretty clear that the race is gonna come down to Rhambo vs Villanueva. Im not sure how I'm gonna vote in the primary yet but this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and important races in the county.

Caruso's entry will benefit Bass above everyone else by moving the Overton window even further to the Right and giving her a boogeyman to keep the Left in line while she drifts to the center. The arrogance behind his decision is hilarious though. I would bet Caruso ends up in fourth place, no matter what he spends, behind Bass, KDL, and Buscaino. The dude is delusional. Hopefully all the negative press he inevitably will receive will convince the USC Board of Trustees to dump this loser.

I'm guessing I'll end up voting for Rhambo just because Villanueva is so evil. But I might just not vote at this point. 

Who are you backing for mayor>

[Canis]

https://www.foxla.com/news/la-mayoral-candidates-to-meet-in-first-public-forum-on-sunday
First debate among the major candidates will be happening tonight Stonewall dems will vote to endorse after the debate so this will be interesting the forum should be streamed here. Karen Bass, Joe Buscaino, Kevin De Leon, Mike Feuer and Jessica Lall will be attending.
https://www.facebook.com/StonewallDemocraticClub


In other news, the LA county sheriff's race has gotten really ugly. Villanueva has accused Rhambo of being a member of one of the deputy gangs (While also claiming deputy gangs don't exist). Rhambo responded by sending a shirtless video to a reporter to prove he doesn't have any affiliated tattoos. Villanueva and Rhambo's campaign's have been blowing up my phone with texts attacking each other. Villanueva has also accused Rhambo of being a Republican who switched party affiliations to run for Sheriff.
https://twitter.com/AleneTchek/status/1469369357247545344
https://twitter.com/KateCagle/status/1420841905571516418
Its pretty hilarious that Villanueva is accusing Rhambo of being a republican seeing as how just last week Villanueva headlined a LA county GOP fundraiser
https://twitter.com/AleneTchek/status/1466918677580640258
https://twitter.com/Rhambo4Sheriff/status/1469355456606851072

I like Eric Strong's platform more than Rhambo but it seems pretty clear that the race is gonna come down to Rhambo vs Villanueva. Im not sure how I'm gonna vote in the primary yet but this is shaping up to be one of the most interesting and important races in the county.

Caruso's entry will benefit Bass above everyone else by moving the Overton window even further to the Right and giving her a boogeyman to keep the Left in line while she drifts to the center. The arrogance behind his decision is hilarious though. I would bet Caruso ends up in fourth place, no matter what he spends, behind Bass, KDL, and Buscaino. The dude is delusional. Hopefully all the negative press he inevitably will receive will convince the USC Board of Trustees to dump this loser.

I'm guessing I'll end up voting for Rhambo just because Villanueva is so evil. But I might just not vote at this point. 

Who are you backing for mayor>

Nobody. My focus, if I'm still in the city, will be primarying Mitch O'Farrrell. I expect I'll hold my nose and vote Bass. She's already disappointing me though.

We will have two ballot initiatives on homelessness. One will essentially criminalize it by banning "urban camping," like my hometown Denver did. Sadly, I expect it to pass by a similarly high margin. People have run out of sympathy, and while my religious and political beliefs urge me to never give up on the seemingly hopeless, I get that people are fed up. Where I live DT it is dangerous most of the time, there is literal human feces everywhere, and things need to improve from a health and safety standpoint.

However, just beating and arresting them is only going to prolong their homelessness. We need a carrot to match the stick, but I'm a lot less certain that people in the city will vote for the other ballot initiative, which will raise taxes on 5 million+ real estate transactions to pay for public housing. This is a good move, because the central problem in LA is income inequality. We just need some kind of big and bold investment that will drive prices down, and it's obviously not going to come from the real estate industry itself.

However, LA is a very classist and elitist place, and despite the fact that it would only negatively impact the .00001% of our population, you can expect the throngs who worship money to vote against it and plenty of "moderate" but uninformed voters to succumb to the propaganda from the real estate industry. It's gonna be a close call, but I wonder if it would be more likely to pass if Bass would be less cagey on whether she supports it. She is almost a shoo-in to win, and could expend the political capital for sure, but I'm disappointed that thus far she has been equivocal.

I've been following that race closely! You're doing important work! Are you in Hugo's camp or Al's or someone else's?

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/Elex_Michaelson/status/1494337163189645319
The first LA times poll of the race shows Bass as a lock to make the runoff with a huge amount of undecideds and Caruso and De Leon tied for second place at 8%.
Also in other News
KDL has picked up the endorsements of Former State Treasurer and Governors candidate John Chiang and Congresswoman Norma Torress
https://twitter.com/kdeleon/status/1493769662814851079
https://twitter.com/kdeleon/status/1490418347267137537
Many people in progressive circles are mad at Bass for her Public Safety and housing plans not going far enough in response at the last minute well known Progressive activist Gina Viola has entered the race likely in an attempt to push Bass to the left.
https://twitter.com/gina4la/status/1492643251337277443
I'm probably gonna vote for Alex Gruenenfelder in the primary as long as Bass is a lock for a spot in the runoff I really believe in his platform and he aligns with me ideologically I know he doesn't stand much of a chance of winning but I really gotta give him props for doing some as brave as running for mayor at our age and from all accounts he's a good guy im meeting him soon too so that will help me decide based on the conversations I have with him.

[Canis]

https://twitter.com/FOXLA/status/1506337414524162048
Rick Caruso's attending his first debate tonight he will likely be the target for every candidate on stage, especially Buscaino should be pretty entertaining.
https://twitter.com/BLMLA/status/1506033855865638918
Theirs also gonna be another forum held by BLM LA this Saturday to discuss the proposed people's budget with some of the minor candidates attending.

[Canis]

I caught a little bit of the last couple minutes on Fox11. It seemed to be Everyone vs Curuso, with Buscaino/Curuso taking up most of it from the first minute on (As expected). Apparently they started arguing within the first 5 minutes. Perhaps wisely, Bass tended to stay out of most of the arguing.

I very much doubt 5% of June voters were watching or even aware of this debate, but I'm very curious how the rest of the primary season is gonna go.

Thats generally accurate KDL and Bass pretty much stayed out of the mix though Buscaino did attack Bass for suggesting that police shouldn't offer services to the unhoused saying that sending them their out their alone would endanger them and Bass responded that they could have law enforcement help them out if the situation became violent.

Caruso and Buscaino attacked each other the entire debate. Buscaino accused Caruso of not being conservative enough and Caruso accused him of being a failure and called all the other candidates on the stage failures saying that the homeless population exploded under their watch. Which was a pretty damn good line lol I don't like Caruso but whoever's running his campaigns got quite the brain.

Another funny moment from the debate was Feuer attacked Caruso for having a 100 million dollar yacht he's keeping in the cayman islands to avoid paying taxes on and challenged him to release his tax returns. Caruso accepted and asked all the candidates to release their tax returns and then brought up how Feurer's office was just raided by the FBI and how his chief of staff accused feuer of extortion.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-07/feuer-complaint-paul-paradis-dwp
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/dwp-scandal-primer/

It was overall a really interesting debate, I'm not sure who id say won it but Caruso definitely had the most memorable moments and Bass and KDL also did okay. Buscaino and Feuer definitely lost it though Buscaino came across as desperate and none of his attacks on Caruso really landed.

That being said I'm not voting for any of the major candidates in the primary on principle their records and their stances on law enforcement and homelessness is out of line with my worldview and the city for the most part but these debates are helping me decide who I'll vote for in November.

Heres the link to the debate if any of yall wanna check it out
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x03PYYkwGWY