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THE VIEW FROM HERE - We have three choices: (1) Mayor Karen Bass, (2) CD 4 councilmember Nithya Raman, or (3) Spencer Pratt, community advocate. All are grossly incompetent. Are any others in the gaggle of mayoral candidates competent? No.
What is the correct name for the Los Angeles City government? Is it a democracy? No. Is it a republic? No. Is it a Kleptocracy? Probably. Who runs the city? Don’t ask; you’re not allowed to know.
Why do people run to be mayor? POWER! They seek out power, they lust for power, they covet more power. They lie about their power ambitions. They make grandiose exaggerations how they will fix LA, asking us to give them more power! Will they fix anything? No.
Will the elections make any difference? Probably not. Why then do we vote? Voting is the only game in town. Has any election in the last twenty years slowed down the corruption? No. Nonetheless, let’s look at the three top contenders.
Karen Bass
Bass spent many years in the State legislature representing Los Angeles with many more years in the US Congress representing Los Angeles. Or, did she represent Black Lives Matter (BLM)? One cannot be certain. That’s why she was in Ghana on her Woke visit when the wildfires broke out. Technically, the criticism of her absence was unjust since there was absolutely nothing she could have done if she had been in Los Angeles. One another level, her total acquiescence to Wokeism and in Garcetti’s years of corruption are gross derelictions of duty. Her behavior is all the more egregious in that Fire Chief Kristin Crowley had strenuously warned Bass that the LAFD was unprepared and the LAFD needed more money. As a true Garcetti-ite, Bass cut LAFD funding. While no one could have compensated for the horrible harm which decades of Garcetti corruption had done to Los Angeles, Bass had been elected to fix the harm, not magnify it. As if that breach of duty was not enough, Mayor Bass had so little integrity that she blamed Chief Cowley for Bass’s failure, and a cowardly city council affirmed Bass’s firing of Chief Crowley.
Before her disgraceful scapegoating of Chief Crowley, Bass started her term by back stabbing the three councilmembers who had been unjustly accused of being anti-Black. After telling Nury Martinez she would speak out and tell the truth, Bass apparently got some edict from on high and with the zealotry of a medieval crusader, she turned against Nury Martinez. Bass had been a eyewitness and partial participant in the MLK float with el changuito.
Due to Bass’s support of bashing the innocent councilmembers, BLM Jason Reedy had stalked, assaulted, and battered sitting LA councilmember Kevin DeLeon. Not only did the LAPD not protect the councilmembers whose homes were stormed by hordes of Woke and BLM supporters, but the LAPD ignored Jason Reedy’s videotaped felonious attack on DeLeon. Bass had been warned more than once that her protecting political violence would have unforeseen ramifications. Later in 2024, Bass was silent about UCLA’s pro-Palestinian encampment’s treatment of Jews so that federal Judge Mark C. Scarsi found UCLA’s treatment of Jews “because they refused to denounce their faith, .. [to be] unimaginable and so abhorrent to our constitutional guarantee of religious freedom.” When Trump’s ICE thugs descended on Los Angeles, the violence of the left wing gave Trump grounds to claim that “insurrectionist, thugs and rioters” ruled the streets of Los Angeles, justifying sending in the US Marines.
If one is looking for honor and integrity, one could do better than Bass, but on the other hand, one could do much worse. This brings us to CD 4 councilmember Nithya Raman.
Nithya Raman
One day, Raman was praising Karen Bass and urging her re-election and the next month, Karen Bass became a horrible mayor so that Nithya Raman designated herself as the one true and pure person to be mayor. How ironic Bass feels stabbed in the back by someone she thought had her back. What goes around comes around.
As noted in Citywatch, two of Eric Garcetti’s worst features were: (1) he was way smarter than everyone around him and (2) he was smooth, smooth, smooth. It is unlikely anyone else had the skills to turn Los Angeles into a criminal enterprise and have his opposition sent to prison. We are now faced with Nithya Raman, who has a degree in political theory from Harvard with an MIT master’s degree Urban Planning. Most of us have met duds from Harvard, but not with a MA from MIT. Raman is not to be underestimated. Although Raman blames LA’s woes on Bass, Raman has been a councilmember two years more than Bass had been mayor.
There is nothing subtle about the LAPD’s Protective League’s dislike of Raman. see Its Attack Ad See also Warning in CityWatch When Raman was elected in 2020, LAPD had about 10,000 officers; in 2022 when Bass was elected, LAPD had 9,275 officers; today, it has 8,677 officers. The LAPD attrition rate is about 500 per year, but the DSA councilmembers object to hiring more police.
Both Mayor Bass and Councilmember Raman refuse to admit that Los Angeles’s decline began two decades ago. Using the One and Done Rule, Garcetti had turned Los Angeles in a Criminal Enterprise under Penal Code § 86, allowing Wall Street to monetize Los Angeles housing. Wall Street is still pursuing that policy. Quality of Life issues play no role in Wall Street’s monetization, making expenditures for streets, sidewalks, sewers, the fire department, and the police superfluous. Natural disasters like the Palisades fire make money for Wall Street. Look at all the new mortgages! Densification makes money for Wall Street; the greater the density the higher the mortgage. Rapid mass transit is very profitable for Wall Street returning up to $2.20 of value for every $1 invested. Has anyone running for mayor told the public how much more Wall Street makes from disasters and mass transit, while LA’s Family Millennials leave? No.
Spencer Pratt
Let me count the ways Pratt is qualified. None. Pratt claims a Political Science degree from USC; the Long Beach Los Angeles area has between 120,000 to 150,000 political science degrees.
If voters nix the back-stabbing Raman on June 2, then the November 2026 election will be between Bass, with decades of experience, with Pratt with no experience. Let’s give Spencer Pratt a chance to get his act together by voting for him on June 2.
(Richard Lee Abrams is a former Los Angeles-based attorney, an author, and political commentator. A long-time contributor to CityWatchLA, he is known for his incisive critiques of City Hall and judicial corruption, as well as his analysis of political and constitutional issues. Abrams blends legal insight with historical and philosophical depth to challenge conventional narratives. A passionate defender of civic integrity and transparency, he aims to expose misuse of power and advocate for systemic reform in local government. You may email him at RickLeeAbrams@Gmail.com)
