CommentsTHE VIEW FROM HERE - Just because someone declares that they are running for mayor does not mean that they are in fact running.
Anyone can sign up for the LA marathon, but everyone who registers does not show up. Of those who show up, a few may wander aimlessly for a few blocks, but they are putting forth no effort. That’s the situation with the LA Mayoral Race.
Karen Bass is basically MIA. One has to do more than attend debates and complain that Caruso should not criticize the hideously corrupt LA City Hall. Perhaps, the only place where Caruso tells the truth is that Los Angeles is corrupt from top to bottom and from side to side. And, that’s where Karen Bass made her stand!? Lately, Rep. Bass has talked about abortion which has nothing at all to do with being Mayor. Rather than run a cogent campaign, she has allowed Caruso and his buddies in the LA Police Protective League to endlessly defame her.
The Only Person Running for LA Mayor, Rick Caruso, Makes Eric Garcetti Look like Prince Charming
Rick Caruso has taken the Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire trophy from Eric Garcetti. Eric’s style is low-keyed and smooth, even if he doesn’t fool all the US Senators, while Caruso is shamelessly flamboyant in his self-promotion.
From watching Caruso’s ads, one can reverse engineer them in order to guestimate his character. Caruso, no doubt with the advice of his campaign managers, reveals himself to be surprisingly unsavory; lack of integrity has become his modus operandi.
Caruso Makes Absurd Promises
Maybe Caruso is taking a page from the play book of Fox News and Alex Jones that no reasonable person would take his ads and pronouncements seriously.
Caruso Claims That He Will Add 1500 Police
The mayor does not have the power to add more police officers. Among other obvious factors, the city has to allocate the funds to hire, train and then pay 1500 more officers. The city council, not the mayor, sets the budget. Cadets are paid $35,402 during six-month training. That is $53.1Million not counting the costs of the training program itself. When the cadets become trainee officers, their annual salary jumps to $74,666. That is an additional $120M, not counting benefits such as health insurance. If the LAPD tries to hire fast, it will have to lower its standards or pay significantly more. None of these factors are under Caruso’s control. Caruso is pandering to fear.
Caruso Claims That He Can Have Homeless People Arrested If They Refuse a Bed
The mayor does not control the LAPD and it may refuse to arrest homeless people only to find itself facing new federal charges. Caruso’s claim that if offered a bed, the homeless must take it or be arrested is bogus. An emergency cot in a warehouse will not satisfy the Feds’ requirement that the person be offered alternative housing.
Caruso Cannot Physically Lock Up Homeless People
Assuming 20,000 apartments magically appeared and 1,000 homeless said, “No, I prefer the streets,” Caruso cannot jail them. Not only does the mayor not control the LAPD, he does not control the jail which is a county run facility. Even if the LAPD arrested the homeless who refused a “bed,” that does not mean the County will not immediately release them. The jail is already overcrowded and the jail is under court orders to reduce inmates. Does anyone think that the County will let Caruso fill up its jail with homeless people? Does anyone think a huge fight between the city and the county will benefit Angelenos?
How Long Would the Homeless Be In jail?
What good is it to jail a homeless person? As soon as they are released, they are back on the streets. Who wants to pay $75,500 per homeless person to keep one person in jail for a year? One thousand homeless locked up for one year would cost $75.5M. We have over 40,000 homeless. If we locked up only 10%, that would cost us $302M. Caruso’s promise that he would have any homeless person who refused a bed arrested and jailed is beyond Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire.
Caruso Is a Champ at Taking Credit for Stuff He Did Not Do
Caruso did not reduce crime as police commissioner. The crime rate was dropping years before he was commissioner and continued long after he was commissioner. Caruso caught a free ride on factors beyond his control. Also, let’s see what the federal court really said about Rick Caruso.
Caruso somehow saved the DWP? The DWP has been a mess for decades and has only gotten worse. One way it tried to get out of its financial owes was to institute a new billing system, which resulted in years of litigation and eventually prison time for corruption.
Caruso solved USC problems? Are we to believe that the courts played no role in prosecuting the parental bribery at USC? Are we to believe that Caruso rooted out the doctors who were sexual predators and had all the information made public? Maybe Caruso lives in some alternative universe.
Corruption in LA Is Developer Bribery and Caruso is King of Developers
Caruso and his best buds at Police Protective League scream about corruption. How horrid that councilmembers take bribes! Look at who is paying the bribes! Developers. For some truly bizarre reason, Caruso can donate tens of thousands of dollars to Garcetti’s Mayor’s Fund in order to get favorable treatment for his projects and that is not bribery. Caruso is correct that LA City Hall is hideously corrupt, but to pretend he is clean as snow turns the world upside down. There can be no bribe-takers without bribe-givers!
The Interplay of Caruso’s Ads and the Police Protective League Epitomize
Sleaze
If Caruso will be such super-duper, grand leader of men, then he would have stopped the gutter tactics of the Police Protective League in defaming Karen Bass. Karen Bass did not arrange for sex parties in Vegas in return for approving projects in DTLA. That was Jose Huizar and Mitch Englander. Rather, Karen Bass had the US Congress’ advance approval of USC’s waving her tuition at the school of social work. The approval was not due to any quid pro quo which Karen Bass gave USC. For one thing, she is only one of 435 Congresspersons, unlike Jose Huizar and Mich Englander who were 2 of 3 councilmember on the PLUM committee. The basis for granting Bass’s approval was that she was mastering new information which would directly improve her ability as a US Congressperson.
The allegations against Mark Ridley-Thomas are that he made behind the scenes arrangements for his son to be admitted to USC tuition free. MRT himself gained no enhanced skills. The allegations against MRT are highly suspect. But say, I thought Mr. Wonderful Caruso had made everything peachy keen at USC; yet his police cohorts complain about USC corruption.
When People Show You Who They Are, Believe Them!
A decent person does not take credit for things which he did not do, he does not make absurd promises which he knows are far beyond the ability of the mayor to fulfill, and he does not get surrogates to defame innocent people. I guess TrickyRicky realizes that a sucker is born every minute.
(Richard Lee Abrams has been an attorney, a Realtor and community relations consultant as well as a CityWatch contributor. You may email him at [email protected])
