Politics is the only profession of which I am aware in which competence doesn’t seem to matter. One can fail miserably; one can be corrupt and one can get away with crimes that if committed by someone outside of elective office, arrest, prosecution and a stint in jail would be the result. Yet politicians, Democrats and Republicans, continue to get re-elected.
Which brings me to Tuesday’s race for mayor in Los Angeles (and could reporters please stop saying “mayoral” and “gubernatorial? Real people don’t talk that way).
The incumbent mayor, Karen Bass, wants another term in office, though her tenure has defined failure.
Number one on the list, which her opponent, reality show performer Spencer Pratt has made his number one issue, is the devastating Palisades Fire that began on Jan. 7, 2025. Rebuilding has been excruciatingly slow, mostly due to a protracted permit process that includes mandatory compliance with California and Los Angeles environmental laws.
The second on the list is LA’s homeless population, which Bass now calls in a new politically correct term, “the unhoused.” During her first campaign she had promised to end street homelessness. While she has made some progress, large numbers remain. These would include drug addicts and people with mental health issues. Estimates are that Mayor Bass’ “Inside Safe” initiative, launched in 2022, and as “a bold city-wide, voluntary, proactive housing-led strategy to bring people inside from tents and encampments, and to prevent encampments from returning,” has reduced the homeless population by only 18 percent.
Bass also cut $17.5 million from the fire department budget. Some people have no sense of irony. The city budget is nearly $15 billion, prompting the normally supportive (of Democrats) Los Angeles Times editorial board to write “The city is living beyond its means.” It added that the problem has been “self-inflicted.” The editorial wasn’t through in its indictment of Bass. It blamed her for failing to fix busted sidewalks, burned-out street lights, untrimmed trees and other needed public improvements. At least it doesn’t snow in Los Angeles, or unplowed streets might have been added to the list.
Spencer Pratt has promised to fix all these problems, and more.
The latest UC Berkeley-L.A. Times poll has Mayor Bass at 26 percent, Nithya Raman at 25 percent and Spencer Pratt at 22 percent among likely voters.
Raman and Pratt each surged by eight percentage points since a March survey; Bass remained flat. A California Post poll conducted with McLaughlin & Associates shows Pratt in a statistical tie with the incumbent mayor. That poll found voters blaming homelessness, affordability and the general direction of the city as their reason for turning against Bass.
As with any election, voters have an opportunity to abandon their lifelong position that as long as a candidate has a “D” behind his or her name they will vote for them. In this election voters can choose between continuing failures, or they can elect a fresh face — Spencer Pratt — who has the best chance to make life better for all Los Angelinos. What will it be: loyalty and failure, or a candidate whose policies are far more likely to bring success?
Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).