Free Republic

Pro-Bass forces argue that she is under attack from “wealthy oligarchs,” including Rick Caruso and Elon Musk.The rallying cry from the mayor’s allies follows the toughest two months of her political career.Proponents of the recall say Bass has mishandled the wildfire, public safety and other issues. For more than two months, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has faced lacerating criticism over her handling of the Palisades fire — her absence from the country when it erupted, her wobbly public appearances once she returned, even her failure to preserve her text messages.In recent days, pro-Bass forces have been pushing back hard,...

One of the most emotionally charged issues facing Los Angeles-area political leaders since the deadly wildfires is also one of the most basic: How will the government get rid of all the debris?When the week began, L.A. city and county elected officials were facing furious demands to haul it away more swiftly. By week’s end, they were hearing criticism that the process was moving too fast — and that the hazardous waste was being shipped to the wrong places.President Trump first seized on the debris issue during his Jan. 24 visit to L.A. At an awkward roundtable discussion, he told...

Prosecutors brought an indictment alleging that former Deputy Mayor Raymond Chan, while working for downtown developers, set up a job for the family member of a city commissioner; had his company hire a relative of a City Council aide; and proposed a fake consulting contract with another city staffer’s mother. Such job offers, even modest ones, were a way of greasing the wheels of the city bureaucracy, prosecutors allege. Experts say indirect bribes can be more difficult to uncover than a typical quid pro quo in which someone gives money directly to a government official. In one example, prosecutors accuse...

Mayors and governors across the land have run to the cameras and microphones to be among the first to kneel in supplication to the riotous mobs in the streets. ... Garcetti discussed his “defunding the police” plan of reducing the police funding by $150 million and moving another $100 million from other city budgetary priorities to hand over to the mobs for special placative programs. Toward the end of a short speech, Garcetti outlined eight ways LA has already changed up the way cops operate. He lobbed bombs against President Trump, calling him a “political pyromaniac.” He repeated provable lies...

Officials with the Los Angeles police union assailed Mayor Eric Garcetti on Friday for comments he made describing police officers as “killers,” saying LAPD officers have lost confidence in the mayor's ability to lead the city after days of demonstrations over the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. At a news briefing, Los Angeles Police Protective League director Jamie McBride accused Garcetti of "political pandering" and called him "unstable." “He smeared every single police officer in Los Angeles and across the nation by calling us killers," McBride said. The union's comments came after Garcetti announced this week that he would...

The billionaire real estate developer whose support for President Trump sparked calls for a consumer boycott is also behind one of the flashiest redevelopment projects coming to downtown Los Angeles. Protesters in West Hollywood and elsewhere called last week for customers to cancel their memberships with luxury gym Equinox and SoulCycle studios after learning that Stephen M. Ross, chairman and founder of the Related Cos., was planning a Trump fundraiser at his home. Ross has a minority stake in Equinox and SoulCycle, said Related spokesman Glenn Gritzner. In L.A., Related has a major project under construction called the Grand, which...