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LA POLITICS - Billionaire developer believes he has the leadership skills to turn LA around, interviews with Maher & Rogan fuel speculation for a second run at LA mayor!
Rick Caruso, the so-called outsider with insider credentials is weighing his options in wake of the wildfire crisis in the Palisades that has incumbent LA Mayor Karen Bass vulnerable to a serious challenge from a right-of-center perspective as many in the world of Los Angeles city politics believe moderation is once again back in style and sorely needed.
Like Republican Mayor Richard "Dick" Riordan did in 1993, he brought city politics back to the center after twenty years of Democrat Tom Bradley and a sense LA was in a bad place needing and demanding an outsider's touch.
It was Riordan who coined the slogan "tough enough to turn LA around," and will Caruso dust off the Riordan playbook to make Los Angeles great again?
For Caruso, the Los Angeles businessman, recently met with both Joe Rogan and Bill Maher. Two must interviews if one is serious about mounting a political foundation of moderation in this second coming of President Donald J. Trump.
For Caruso made the political mecca to Austin, Texas to meet one-on-one with the highly popular podcaster who leans center right, the temperature of a majority of Americans today as witnessed by the second election of Trump.
On January 17, 2025, Caruso appeared on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher," discussing topics including the California wildfires as well as his political future. In each instance, Caruso was offered a friendly environment to offer his vision for a better Los Angeles in wake of the wildfire tragedy.
Subsequently, on February 5, 2025, Caruso was a guest on "The Joe Rogan Experience," where he delved into the issue of arsonists targeting fire trucks during the Pacific Palisades wildfires. Caruso, a large property owner in the Palisades used private fire-fighting services to ensure his retail space survived. For it is this out-of-the-box approach that has many intrigued by another Caruso candidacy.
Regarding the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), Caruso has been vocal about the challenges faced during the Pacific Palisades wildfires.
He criticized the water shortages that hampered firefighting efforts, attributing them to years of mismanagement and corruption. A former head of the DWP, Caruso was highly critical of the current leadership, calling for Janisse Quinones, the first Latina to head the agency to step aside.
According to the Rogan podcast, Caruso called for her termination.
"She needs to resign."
For Caruso, "competence over politics" is no longer the standard when it comes to the management and operation of city services.
But for Caruso, the foundation of competence is leadership.
Touting a resume that he served in multiple capacities under three previous LA mayors, Caruso believes his record of success is required to turn around the country's second largest municipality.
For Caruso, the big issues like crime and homelessness can be fixed by working closely with the private sector to ensure best practices.
Caruso rejects the notion that homelessness in particular is too big to fix, and that cost must be a priority in solving the problem. Caruso explained that while government constructed housing is costing some $800,000 per unit, it was being done at $300,000 by the private sector.
Caruso criticized the usage of HHH funding that was supposed to construct some 10,000 units of housing, only to see about 1,000 actually built.
With some 70,000 homeless in LA County, Caruso explained the plans he offered during the 2022 campaign placed "competence over ideology.
For Caruso, it's about "lead, follow, or get out of the way."
Caruso believed his mayoral campaign, that spent a record-breaking amount of money in excess of $100M, was upended by national Democrats like former President Joe Biden, Barack Obama, former Vice-President Kamala Harris and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi who rallied Democrats against him in the waning days.
Caruso joked that Air Force One was loaded up with the leadership of the national Democratic Party to ensure his eventual defeat.
Caruso, who has been both a Democrat as well as a Republican in the past describes himself now as a Democrat, "fiscally conservative, socially liberal."
For Caruso believes that only an outsider can make the change insiders and government bureaucrats cannot.
And while the former candidate was critical of the backslide in politics as well as this lurch to the left, Caruso is optimistic about future prospects as he pointed to the lopsided victory of LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman over liberal George Gascon as evidence voters are seeking a more common sense approach to issues such as crime, and the application of public safety practices that eventually solve the problem.
Caruso spoke fondly of his recommendation to hire Bill Bratton as LA Police Chief that saw morale soar and crime decrease. And while it might have cost then Mayor James Hahn his reelection, in the end it was the right thing to do.
The topic turned back to President Donald Trump's visit to the Palisades where Caruso gave him high marks for his demeanor and approach, as well as emphasizing a sense of urgency that these homes must be rebuilt as quickly as possible.
Caruso again made observations on the why, as fire hydrants were not properly functioning, and water was not readily available while brush had not been cleared for years. Caruso insisted in reconstruction that power lines be placed underground and that the Mayor's decision to travel to Ghana was a tragic error in judgement.
For the conversation with Rogan touched on career politicians spending more time trying to get reelected rather than do the job at hand.
For the reconstruction of the Palisades will require a plan of action, and he will try to construct with other private sector partners he is currently consulting and hopes to work with elected officials to implement workable solutions.
Turning back to the issue of homelessness, Caruso believes a concerted effort to privatize construction can be done at a fraction of the cost.
Caruso stated there are more families on the streets than ever before, and with the fires he estimated some 180,000 homeless or displaced individuals in LA County today.
Caruso offered he could never restart his businesses in Los Angeles under the current regulations, bureaucracy and conditions.
Caruso invoked the legacy of the late Ronald Reagan, believing an economic climate that promotes investment by the private sector will jump start job creation and growth.
And while the speculation as to what he will do is on the minds of many, getting the Palisades reconstructed is his only true priority.
Caruso stressed we need leaders to look at things differently.
"We need to think big," offered the former candidate with a clear eye on another run for public office.
(Nick Antonicello covered the 2022 LA mayoral race from a neighborhood perspective. A thirty-two-year resident of Venice, the author served as a legislative aide to the County of Bergen in New Jersey as well as a legislative aide to two members of the NJ General Assembly. Have a take or a tip? Contact him at [email protected])
