The wildfires continue to rage in Los Angeles, and as often happens in such cases, politicians are pointing fingers at one another. Donald Trump spent much of Wednesday on Truth Social blaming the fires on Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Biden Administration, even calling on Newsom to resign.
Meanwhile, another figure drawing lots of vitriol is Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. A longtime member of Congress, Bass was a “sleeper pick” in 2020 to be chosen as President Biden’s vice president, before getting elected mayor of Los Angeles in 2022.
With the firings raging, Bass has been heavily criticized on several fronts. She was a on trip to Ghana as part of a delegation to the new president’s inauguration when the fires began, and some critics have said she should have either skipped the skip or come back earlier.
Donald Trump exploited a historic wildfire crisis to launch petty insults at a political opponent Wednesday as tens of thousands of Los Angeles residents fled the city’s worst natural disaster in decades. https://t.co/QOUlYI6XYo
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) January 9, 2025
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“There was zero preparation. There was zero thought here,” Michael Gonzales, an attorney who lost his home in Pacific Palisades, told the New York Times. “It was an utter breakdown in leadership, and it starts with the mayor’s office.”
Bass was also ripped, in the same Times story by Rick Caruso, her defeated opponent in that 2022 election. A former president of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Caruso dispatched a team of private firefighters to Pacific Palisades to “protect a major outdoor retail space he owns, as well as some nearby homes.”
Also Wednesday, a document emerged in which Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned Bass, about three weeks ago, that the $17 million recently cut from the fire department’s budget “severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.” That came from the cover letter of a more full report.
L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned Mayor Karen Bass (D) last month the $17+ million she cut from the department’s budget “severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires” pic.twitter.com/tgzIAeHIsQ
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) January 9, 2025
A Politico report, however, stated that the budget cut talking point was incorrect.
Also Wednesday, Bass was confronted by a Sky News reporter as she prepared to get off the plane, and did not respond.
“Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning, and do you regret cutting the fire department budget by millions of dollars, Madam Mayor?,” the reporter asked Bass.
Photo: Karen Bass’ official portrait.
