Apocalyptic fires had been raging across Los Angeles for more than 24 hours as Mayor Karen Bass stepped off a plane for the high-profile encounter that might define her mayoralty.
The mayor of the country’s second largest city stood silently, as if paralyzed, as an Irish reporter who happened to be on the plane peppered her with questions.
“Do I owe the public an apology for being absent while my house was on fire?” There is no answer.
“Mrs. Mayor, do you regret cutting the fire department’s budget by millions of dollars?” No answer.
“Are you not going to say anything today?”
The bus looked ahead, then at its feet, then down the empty bridge and out into the smoldering city.
She left Los Angeles on January 4, when the National Weather Service was on high alert for an incoming storm, to attend the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She remained out of the country as the Palisades Fire ignited and exploded, and other fires soon broke out in and around the city.
She returned to public outrage Wednesday over questions about her whereabouts and empty fire hydrants, empty reservoirs and, according to some, insufficient resources at the fire department. Her response to questions in the days that followed only reinforced some of that criticism.
Ms. Bass has battled extraordinary dissension within her own ranks, with Los Angeles Fire Chief Christine Crowley characterizing the department’s understaffing and underfunding in an interview Friday as disappointing for Ms. Bass. He hinted at that. That night, a false rumor spread that Bass had fired Crowley, further increasing the sense that Bass was not in complete control and the confusion.
Now, as Bass weathers a disaster that redefines her city, her political future is also at stake.
In moments of suffering, when people desperately want heroes and villains to understand their pain, the bus has undoubtedly become a punching bag for some in the city.
Her absence, combined with a shaky early performance and unprecedented attacks from the fire chief, only exacerbated her vulnerability. And in X, she became a much maligned conservative meme.
However, the seriousness of the political implications will only become clear over time. An investigation will be carried out into whether fire and water authorities failed and whether City Hall missed opportunities to improve the area’s fire safety. It will take months, if not years, to arrive at such an answer.
In a warlike California landscape only tentatively tamed by humans, fire is inevitable. Many of the seeds of destruction were sown long before Mr. Bass took office, with rising temperatures drying out hillsides that threatened to explode in strong winds, and weakening brush cover. For example, there were planning decisions made generations ago to put the houses in the canyon.
Even before last week’s unprecedented firestorm, climate change was reshaping California in terrifying ways, with entire communities in areas like Santa Rosa and Paradise experiencing fires.
And the hard work of rebuilding has only just begun.
“Angelenos, we are hurt, we are saddened, we are still shocked and angry. And so am I,” Bass said at a briefing Saturday morning. “The devastation our city has faced. But despite the sadness, despite the anger, despite the shock, we must remain focused until this time passes, until the fire is extinguished. yeah.”
Bass declined to be interviewed, but promised to “provide a full explanation of what worked and what didn’t work” after the blaze is over.
The first-term mayor, elected in November 2022, has spent his first years in office focused on addressing the city’s vast and complex homelessness emergency. She has been slowly making headway from homelessness, but until last week, she had faced little external crisis.
Before the fire, Angelenos had expressed dissatisfaction with the city’s direction, but residents still generally approved of her work.
But that goodwill is fading.
Condemnation has come from all sides in recent days, with 2022 challenger billionaire mall magnate Rick Caruso criticizing the absence of buses and the response to the fire in the media.
Caruso, whose Palisades mall survived the blaze with the help of civilian firefighters, told the Times last week that Bass’s “terrible” leadership “has caused a number of deaths because she wasn’t here, because we didn’t know who she was.” “There were billions of dollars in damage.” I’m doing it. ”
A Change.org petition calling for her resignation has garnered more than 120,000 signatures.
Bass, 71, has also been criticized for reducing fire department activity, an attack that has come from both the right and the left. City Administrator and progressive Kenneth Mejia has been particularly critical on social media.
Mr. Bass and city budget analysts walked back their claims of budget cuts, pointing out that long before the fires, the department was expected to grow significantly this year, thanks in large part to firefighter pay raises.
On Monday morning, Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong said in an interview on YouTube-based political show The Morning Meeting that the paper had made a “mistake” in endorsing Bass in 2022. . (Endorsements are made by the Times Editorial Board, which operates separately from the newsroom.)
Critics also blasted Bass’ lack of publicity outside of public press conferences, at a time when residents desperately need reassurance from their leaders, and said the six-term former congressman He said he looked more like a lawmaker than a chief executive.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, several members of the county Board of Supervisors, and Councilman Tracy Park, who represents Pacific Palisades, have been more visible than the mayor in affected communities and in local news.
But the real crucible is just beginning to take shape for the mayor, and her political outlook is inextricably tied to an almost unfathomably difficult recovery ahead.
In a place that has long been surrounded by disasters, buses are facing a catastrophe with an economic and logistical burden that combines the effects of the 1994 Northridge earthquake and 1992 civil unrest. It will look smaller than it is. She will also be responsible for a massive environmental cleanup effort and the challenge of housing thousands of newly homeless Angelenos in an already supercharged housing market. All of this must happen as we prepare for the huge footprint and operational challenges of the upcoming 2028 Olympics.
Before parts of the city self-immolated, the Democratic mayor of the predominantly Democratic city was widely expected to run for a second term without a significant opponent in the 2026 election.
In the words of a local political consultant, potential challengers may now “smell the blood” and reassess their chances of running a campaign in a rapidly changing political landscape. do not have.
Representatives for Caruso, a Republican-turned-Democrat who has poured more than $100 million of his personal fortune into his 2022 campaign, did not respond to questions about whether he plans to run again. Mejia spokeswoman Jane Nguyen said the city controller is “focused on work right now” and has not made any decisions about future races.
“I don’t think this is a fatal situation for her re-election chances yet,” said Ange, former dean of the University of Southern California’s School of Political Science and International Studies and current director of the Kirwan Institute for Race and Ethnicity at Ohio State University. Marie Hancock said. .
Hancock said there is still time for the former South L.A. community organizer to pivot back to the political brand she is known for, defined by a “deep concern for the community.”
But it’s not easy.
Even some political allies have questioned the mayor’s response to last week’s snowballing criticism, distrusting his tone in the viral airport interview and in response to follow-up questions in the days since. Some expressed their feelings.
The mayor, who has long impatiently ignored questions about whether his visit was politically motivated, appeared combative and defensive when asked about his visit at a news conference. It took several days for her to publicly acknowledge the level of raw anger being expressed about the city’s fire response.
Bass has also contested responsibility for the response to the Eaton fire, which is outside of her jurisdiction, although only part of the deadly conflagration is within city limits.
Some of Mr. Bass’s critics have accused him of being a political vulture who is simply harming the city at an already dangerous time.
Steve Soboroff, former chairman of the Los Angeles Police Commission and longtime supporter of the mayor, called the criticism “unjustified.” “This is convenient and easy for people who want to spend their time pointing instead of looking forward. This was an act of God. This was an act of God. This was beyond anyone’s control. ”
Bass clearly cannot control the wind and cannot see into the future. And an extinction of this magnitude required a perfect storm of factors that few could have predicted days in advance.
Still, before Bass left town, the local office of the National Weather Service had predicted severe fire conditions, and the wording changed to “extreme fire weather conditions” on January 5th. By late last Monday morning, they had issued an emergency warning for a major fire. As a “destructive and life-threatening storm”, nagging questions have been raised about the mayor’s priorities and why he did not leave Ghana sooner.
“I don’t understand why they didn’t cancel her trip,” said a senior official for another local elected official, explaining that his office had begun viewing the upcoming wind farm as a serious threat last weekend. “It was political malfeasance.”
The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said it was customary for Los Angeles politicians to cancel or prepare to cancel pre-scheduled events during inclement weather. .
Still, Bass is not the first California political leader to be absent during a pressing crisis.
Former Mayor James Hahn was on a lobbying trip to Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001, but was unable to return to Washington for several days because flights were suspended. When the Watts riots broke out in 1965, then-governor Pat Brown was famously vacationing in Greece. His absence helped ensure his ouster by challenger Ronald Reagan the following year.
TMZ happened to spot two prominent bus supporters, actors Kim Whitley and Yvette Nicole Brown, leaving a grocery store in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday in a city of more than 4 million people. They passionately defended Bass in a seemingly impromptu interview.
They insinuated that Bass, as a black woman, was being held to a higher standard and unfairly blamed for natural disasters.
“Even if a politically motivated smear campaign starts against her, she’s not the type to fly her own flag,” Brown said Sunday of the mayor, who usually avoids public political battles. “And more importantly, now is not the time for anyone to be trying to position themselves for the next election.”
The mayor’s quiet style and penchant for soft power are seen by some as lacking in this moment of catastrophe, but they could also be an asset in the coming months.
Soboroff said Bass’ deftness as a coalition builder and his deep ties with the federal government, which he used as a selling point during his campaign, make him especially poised to succeed in leading the city’s recovery. .
While other state and local leaders have launched colorful attacks on President-elect Donald Trump, Bass has been publicly trying to calm friction and speaking with representatives of the incoming administration. He said he was not concerned about the alleged lack of communication.
“When disasters happen, we look for someone to blame. But our politics is polarized and nationalized, and this provides an excuse to bash California for a variety of reasons. Manuel Pastor, director of the USC Equity Institute, said.
The pastor, who was part of Bass’s transition team, cited an echo chamber of disinformation about X and right-wing politicians exploiting the crisis for their own ends.
“She’s going to be judged on rebuilding, and she’s going to be judged on whether she can get the city ready for the Olympics,” the pastor said.
Times staff writer David Zahnizer contributed to this report.
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