There’s an old political axiom, frequently attributed to Lyndon Johnson, that says, “Never tell a man to go to hell unless you’re sure you can send him there.”
On Wednesday night, May 6, during a televised mayoral candidate debate, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman learned the hard way the consequences of telling Mayor Karen Bass to “go to hell” and failing to deliver.
Granted, Raman’s job was made harder by former reality star Spencer Pratt, who brought more passion, poise, and preparation to the stage than either of his challengers expected. Councilwoman Raman had once been a Bass supporter; however, after the Palisades fire debacle, the withdrawal of Austin Beutner due to a family tragedy, and Rick Caruso’s surprise decision to sit out a Bass rematch, Ms. Raman entered the fray. It was an “Et tu, Brute?” moment—at least by Los Angeles political standards—a political heresy that can result in either total victory or ignominious defeat.
During last week’s debate, Raman found herself caught in the middle between the incumbent Mayor’s calm, assertive, and frequently defensive rebuttals to forceful and on-target jabs from political novice Spencer Pratt. Pratt made himself a serious threat to the same-old, calcified, closed-loop political culture that has run (into the ground?) the city of Los Angeles for decades.
Karen Bass has the automatic stature of incumbency. Pratt has the nothing-to-lose freedom of a genuine outsider who has no special interest groups to placate, except for the MAGA supporters who make up his base. During my Southern California News Group candidate conversation with Pratt, I asked who won the 2020 Presidential Election and he said, “I don’t know. I’m not a political person.” Not a great answer for someone who wants to restore honesty in politics, but the only acceptable answer for a candidate who doesn’t want to anger DJT.
Still, the sudden emergence of Pratt as a well-funded and clear ideological alternative to Bass leaves Nithya Raman little breathing room. With Bass now fighting off a challenge from the right, does Raman try to outflank Bass from the left? If so, she failed last Wednesday, serving up more than a few Ralph Kramden-esque “hamma-na-hamma-na” stumbles as she tried to explain away previous far-left positions like defunding the police and refusing a simple yes-or-no answer on non-citizens voting in city elections. Bass wasn’t much better on that one, allowing Pratt to score an uncontested layup on a low-hanging fruit issue for most Americans.
One point Raman did get right is the Bass team’s desire for a runoff in November between the Mayor and Pratt. If that should occur, it’s likely Bass will be re-elected when the public employee unions and special interests coalesce around the “safe” candidate, especially in a city that votes overwhelmingly Democrat. But if nothing else, everyone is now on notice that Spencer Pratt is not going to go quietly into the night.
Pratt is running against more than Karen Bass and Nithya Raman. His real target is the political culture of Los Angeles that has allowed America’s second-largest city to sink into corruption and disrepair. City government 101 functions like street lights, sidewalk maintenance, and road repair have fallen by the wayside. L.A.’s public parks and athletic facilities are an embarrassment compared with surrounding facilities in Burbank, Glendale, and Culver City.
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell recently said we don’t have enough officers to protect the 2028 Olympics—a chilling statement from the man tasked with defending the highest-profile terror target in decades. And, of course, we still have a homeless crisis that has not been solved after spending billions, and will not be solved by changing the acceptable name to “the unhoused.”
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Los Angeles is a vast and complex city with very different population centers requiring different needs and different approaches. With a projected budget for the coming year north of $14 billion and a shrinking tax base due to a hostile business environment, runaway production, and online shopping, every penny is already spoken for. This leaves little wiggle room for unexpected expenses like massive wildfires, floods, legal payouts, and market downturns.
Spencer Pratt’s argument that the leadership of Los Angeles has failed the people they serve resonates because we have lived it and seen it with our own eyes every day. The question is: Are voters willing to turn over leadership of this enormous place to an outsider animated by a wildfire that torched his home, and who now wants to burn down the system that allowed that disaster to happen?
Doug McIntyre’s column appears Sundays. He can be reached at: Doug@DougMcIntyre.com