L.A. mayor’s race offers voters more failure or real change

OPINION:

Politics is the only profession of which I am aware in which competence does not seem to matter.

In politics, one can fail miserably, be corrupt and get away with crimes that, if committed by someone outside elective office, would result in arrest, prosecution and a stint in jail. Yet politicians — Democrats and Republicans alike — continue to be reelected.

That brings me to Tuesday’s race for mayor in Los Angeles. (And could reporters please stop saying “mayoral” and “gubernatorial”? Real people do not talk that way.)

The incumbent mayor, Karen Bass, wants another term in office, though her tenure has defined failure.

At the top of the list — which Ms. Bass’ opponent, reality show performer Spencer Pratt, has made his No. 1 issue — is the devastating Palisades fire that began on Jan. 7, 2025. Rebuilding has been excruciatingly slow, mostly because of a protracted permit process that includes mandatory compliance with California and Los Angeles environmental laws.

The second on the list is L.A.’s homeless population, which Ms. Bass now calls, politically correctly, “the unhoused.” During her first campaign, she had promised to end street homelessness. Although she has made some progress, large numbers remain, including drug addicts and people with mental health issues.

Estimates are that Ms. Bass’ Inside Safe initiative, launched in 2022 as “a bold citywide, 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%.

Ms. 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.”

Still, the editorial was not finished in its indictment of Ms. Bass. It blamed her for failing to fix broken sidewalks, burned-out streetlights, untrimmed trees and other needed public improvements.

At least it does not 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 Ms. Bass at 26%, Nithya Raman at 25% and Spencer Pratt at 22% among likely voters.

Ms. Raman and Mr. Pratt each surged by 8 percentage points since a March survey, while Ms. Bass remained flat. A California Post poll conducted with McLaughlin and Associates shows Mr. Pratt in a statistical tie with the incumbent mayor.

That poll found that voters blamed homelessness, affordability and the city’s general direction for their turning against Ms. Bass.

As with any election, voters have an opportunity to abandon the lifelong position that as long as candidates have a “D” behind their name, they will vote for them. In this election, voters can choose between continuing failures and a fresh face (Spencer Pratt) who has the best chance to make life better for all Los Angelenos.

So, 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 [email protected]. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).