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Wildfires Stir Political Storm Around Mayor
The Wall Street Journal|January 14, 2025
LOS ANGELES—Karen Bass beat the billionaire real-estate developer Rick Caruso in Los Angeles’s 2022 mayoral race.
- Erich Schwartzel, Katherine Sayre and Peter Grant
Wildfires Stir Political Storm Around Mayor

But Caruso reappeared this past week as the mayor’s top critic as Bass faces a mounting backlash over the response to the unprecedented wildfires ravaging the city. “The basic fundamentals of leadership start with being present,” Caruso, 66 years old, said in a post on X on Friday, a veiled swipe at Bass’s absence from the city when the fires broke out.

Bass, 71, has said that while she was away, she was in regular contact with deputies and officials. She also said political sniping accomplished little.

“We will reject those who seek to divide us and seek to misinform,” she said at a news conference Thursday. Caruso, a centrist, former Republican, was once known to most Angelenos as a developer of high-end outdoor shopping malls. He is being urged by supporters to run for office again, possibly for governor of California.

Bass vs. Caruso has become a theme playing in the foreground of Los Angeles politics in the week since the fires broke out.

Their bickering is only one example of several in a chorus of accusations, as a blame game breaks out across the state and the handling of the fires becomes a partisan issue.

A spokesman for Bass said the mayor "is laser-focused on two things right now-keeping Angelenos safe and protecting property." Caruso said in an interview Monday that running for office is the "furthest thing from my mind" given the devastation of the fire. "I just want to get this place rebuilt." The shots have been fired every which way.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has called for an investigation into the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power over why some hydrants ran dry. Kristin Crowley, the city's fire chief, said in an interview with the city's Fox affiliate that budget cuts had left her teams without the necessary resources.

Denne historien er fra January 14, 2025-utgaven av The Wall Street Journal.

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Denne historien er fra January 14, 2025-utgaven av The Wall Street Journal.

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