Karen Bass has faced tough questions. The city is making her answers hard to find

Los Angeles Times

22-02-2025

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It's David Zahniser, with an assist from my colleague Rebecca Ellis, giving you the latest on city and county government.
The reporter from CBS delivered a stinging question — one that got under the skin of Mayor Karen Bass.
Bass had flown home from Ghana the day before to a city engulfed in crisis, with firefighters battling out-of-control wildfires, hydrants that were dry and residents reeling from a chaotic evacuation. Standing in the city's Emergency Operations Center, the reporter wanted to know: What did Bass have to say to critics who were demanding she step down?
Bass, standing with a clutch of city and county officials, promised a 'deep dive' into everything that had gone wrong. With the fires still raging, she made clear she was done with the question.
'I answered it in the morning. I answered it now. Won't answer it again,' she told the room full of reporters.
That testy exchange — and the entire news conference — can be found on the Facebook page for Los Angeles County government, which has uploaded more than two dozen wildfire media briefings since the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out.
On the mayor's Facebook page, however, the Q and A is nowhere to be found.
Video from that Jan. 9 news conference does appear on Bass' Facebook platform. But it cuts off the moment the questions begin. The last thing the viewer hears is a reporter asking, 'What is it going to take to stop this fire?'
That wasn't an isolated case. On the mayor's Facebook page, video from a Jan. 8 evening wildfire news conference also excludes the Q and A segment. The same is true of the wildfire media briefing video posted from the morning of Jan. 10.
Over on the county website, you can see the full version of both, with Bass fielding questions about low water pressure, the fire department budget and her trip back from Ghana. 'I was on the phone, on the plane, almost every hour of the flight,' she said at one point.
(The Q and As add about 10 to 12 minutes to each video.)
In the days after the Palisades fire, those Q and A segments were occasionally treacherous for Bass. At one session, she bristled at a question about the city's emergency reserve and whether L.A. would have enough money to weather the crisis. At another, she struggled to answer a question about the county's continually malfunctioning emergency alerts and whether Angelenos should stop using them — an issue that is not even the city's responsibility.
'We are not going to allow people to divide us for political gain,' she responded.
The omission of the Q and A — not just from social media but, on at least some occasions, the live feed watched by the public in real time — in some ways sanitizes the mayor's image, removing the messy back-and-forth that takes place between politicians and the news media.
Without the Q and A, viewers get to hear only the 'propaganda' — prepared remarks from politicians and government officials, not the explanations that come afterward, said Rob Quan, an organizer with Unrig LA, a City Hall watchdog group.
'They're going out of their way to deprive people of the full picture,' he said.
Quan said the Q and A is 'the juiciest part' of any press briefing — and frequently the only reason he tunes in. During those segments, he said, politicians are forced to clarify, explain and defend their decisions. They also can give the public additional information to understand an ongoing crisis.
The Times asked the mayor's team on Thursday why the Q and A has gone missing from so many of the mayor's video clips and livestreams. They did not respond to that question.
On Friday, the day Bass took the remarkable step of ousting Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, the mayor's team posted the full news conference, including the Q and A, on Bass' Facebook page. Bass spokesperson Clara Karger, in a text message to The Times, pointed out that fact.
'The Mayor's Office works to keep Angelenos informed in a variety of different ways and we will continue to do so,' she said.
For Bass, the omission of the Q and A was not limited to the first days after the Palisades fire. On Feb. 7, she held a news conference marking the one-month anniversary of the fire, announcing her decision to award a major contract to an Illinois-based disaster recovery firm.
During that segment, Bass answered questions about the salary and job duties of Steve Soboroff, her recovery czar — topics that quickly became political issues for her. But the mayor's Youtube and Facebook pages cut off that part.
Those who have wanted to hear the Q and As have found other outlets, such as KNX radio and local television stations. But even then, there are limits.
In the early days of the crisis, when wildfire emergency briefings were happening twice a day, L.A. city and county government traded off hosting duties. At the county's Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, staffers placed a microphone in front of reporters the moment they posed a question.
During the city versions, microphones weren't available, sometimes leaving the public unable to hear what was asked. That has spurred some complaints in recent weeks.
'Roving microphones are a great technique to help the public hear the questions asked by the press, because the press is an extension of the public,' said Helen Chavez Garcia, spokesperson for County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who oversees the county media briefings. 'Many times, the press is going to ask a question that the community wants answered.'
Chavez Garcia said she makes sure the county uploads the full video, not just the prepared remarks. As time progresses, the public may be interested in going back to those videos to understand what was being asked, she said.
'It's part of a transparent record-keeping process,' she said.
— UNDER THE BUS: As we mentioned earlier, Bass ousted the fire chief, a little more than six weeks after the fires broke out. The move came one day after Bass issued a statement to The Times criticizing Crowley, saying the fire chief did not contact her about the dangerous Santa Ana winds until after the fire broke out Jan. 7. Crowley, you may recall, put Bass on the defensive last month, telling FOX 11 that the city had failed her department.
— NOT-SO-LOCKED ARMS: Mayor Karen Bass has long touted her ability to work collaboratively with officials at the city, county, state and federal levels. But those skills have not quelled the behind-the-scenes tensions between her and County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes the Palisades fire burn area. A trove of text messages obtained by The Times revealed conflicts between the two powerful politicians in the days since the wildfires broke out. As Horvath put it in one message: 'Doesn't feel very 'locked arms' to me.'
— RUNNING AGAIN: It took him a bit longer than L.A.'s other citywide elected officials, but City Controller Kenneth Mejia has begun raising money for his 2026 reelection campaign. Mejia, who filed the paperwork on Valentine's Day, went so long without forming his reelection committee that some had begun to wonder if he was weighing a challenge to Bass. Mejia has not been shy about pointing out the city's budget woes, particularly overspending by certain agencies.
— MORE ON MEJIA: Meanwhile, one of Mejia's top deputies, Chief of Accountability and Oversight Sergio Perez, has landed a new gig after two years in the controller's office. Perez, who also did a brief stint as the Department of Water and Power's inspector general, is now executive director of the L.A.-based Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, which provides legal advocacy for immigrants, refugees and other marginalized people in Southern California.
— VALLEY LEGAL VICTORIES: Four San Fernando Valley affordable housing projects — all approved as part of the mayor's Executive Directive 1 program — have survived legal challenges and are now moving forward. All four of those projects ran into trouble because they were planned on land reserved for single-family homes. Bass later revised the program to exclude such areas from her affordable housing initiative.
Real estate developer and former L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso is continuing his barnstorming tour of contrarian media. He already talked to podcaster Joe Rogan and television personality Bill Maher. Now he's spent an hour with Bari Weiss of the Free Press, who pressed him during her podcast to provide A-to-F assessments of several political figures, including L.A.'s mayor.
Caruso, whose family lost two homes in Pacific Palisades, gave Bass a 'D' grade, expressing outrage over the city's handling of the Palisades fire. He was more generous to Gov. Gavin Newsom, giving him a 'B.'
At one point, Caruso said he had met with Newsom and found that the governor is 'working very hard to try to do the right thing.' He gave another 'B' to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who served from 2003 to 2011.
Still, Caruso reserved his most lavish praise for billionaire Elon Musk, who has spent the past month seeking massive job cuts in the federal government, halting global relief programs provided by USAID and disputing claims that he gave Nazi salutes at a Trump inaugural event.
Caruso called the Tesla founder 'one of the most brilliant entrepreneurs and innovators we've had in our country and our world.'
'I admire him greatly,' the developer continued. 'And quite frankly, I like the fact that he's donating his time to help our country. So I give him somewhere between an 'A' and a 'B.' I like Elon.'
— WILDFIRE RELIEF (PART 1): Caruso's new foundation, Steadfast L.A., announced a $15-million pledge to pay for pre-fab homes in the wildfire burn areas. The money is coming from Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia, who also sits on the board of Tesla.
— WILDFIRE RELIEF (PART 2): The L.A. County Board of Supervisors took the first step toward a prohibition on evictions for renters reeling financially from last month's wildfires. The supervisors took that step on the same day that the City Council delayed a vote on a similar proposal.
— WILDFIRE RELIEF (PART 3): Four new resource centers were opened this week to help residents who have lost income because of last month's wildfires. The centers, operated by the city and county, will allow residents to seek relief funds, get help with job placement, search for temporary employment and apply for small-business loans, among other things.