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Before Taking Office, L.A.'s Mayor Said She Would Not Go Abroad
Before Taking Office, L.A.’s Mayor Said She Would Not Go Abroad
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles has been criticized for being out of the country when the wildfires broke out. Three years ago, she promised in an interview to cut back on her world travel and focus on the city.
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Gov. Gavin Newsom, second from right, were briefed about fire damage in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Wednesday. Allison Dinner/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Shawn Hubler and Soumya Karlamangla
Shawn Hubler has covered California since 1983 and has written about the last six mayors of Los Angeles. Soumya Karlamangla has reported on California for 12 years.
Jan. 12, 2025
After the first rally in her campaign for mayor of Los Angeles in 2021, Karen Bass spoke candidly about what she saw as a potential drawback to the job — a lack of world travel and involvement in global affairs.
Ms. Bass was accustomed to circling the globe as a Democratic member of Congress and of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and had spent decades working on U.S.-Africa relations. It was one of the most absorbing parts of her political career, she told The New York Times in an interview on Oct. 17, 2021, at her home in the Baldwin Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.
“I went to Africa every couple of months, all the time,” she said, adding, “The idea of leaving that, especially the international work and the Africa work, I was like, ‘Mmm, I don’t think I want to do that.’”
She ultimately decided that she did, telling The Times that if she was elected mayor, “not only would I of course live here, but I also would not travel internationally — the only places I would go would be D.C., Sacramento, San Francisco and New York, in relation to L.A.”
{snip}
Thomas Fuller and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs contributed reporting.
Shawn Hubler is based in Sacramento and covers California news, policy trends and personalities. She has been a journalist for more than four decades. More about Shawn Hubler
Soumya Karlamangla is a Times reporter who covers California. She is based in the Bay Area. More about Soumya Karlamangla
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles has been criticized for being out of the country when the wildfires broke out. Three years ago, she promised in an interview to cut back on her world travel and focus on the city.
Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Gov. Gavin Newsom, second from right, were briefed about fire damage in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Wednesday. Allison Dinner/EPA, via Shutterstock
By Shawn Hubler and Soumya Karlamangla
Shawn Hubler has covered California since 1983 and has written about the last six mayors of Los Angeles. Soumya Karlamangla has reported on California for 12 years.
Jan. 12, 2025
After the first rally in her campaign for mayor of Los Angeles in 2021, Karen Bass spoke candidly about what she saw as a potential drawback to the job — a lack of world travel and involvement in global affairs.
Ms. Bass was accustomed to circling the globe as a Democratic member of Congress and of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and had spent decades working on U.S.-Africa relations. It was one of the most absorbing parts of her political career, she told The New York Times in an interview on Oct. 17, 2021, at her home in the Baldwin Vista neighborhood of Los Angeles.
“I went to Africa every couple of months, all the time,” she said, adding, “The idea of leaving that, especially the international work and the Africa work, I was like, ‘Mmm, I don’t think I want to do that.’”
She ultimately decided that she did, telling The Times that if she was elected mayor, “not only would I of course live here, but I also would not travel internationally — the only places I would go would be D.C., Sacramento, San Francisco and New York, in relation to L.A.”
{snip}
Thomas Fuller and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs contributed reporting.
Shawn Hubler is based in Sacramento and covers California news, policy trends and personalities. She has been a journalist for more than four decades. More about Shawn Hubler
Soumya Karlamangla is a Times reporter who covers California. She is based in the Bay Area. More about Soumya Karlamangla
CALIFORNIA
Column: Karen Bass was no Nero — and now’s the time for her to prove that
{snip picture}
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, left, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Gov. Gavin Newsom tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades on Jan. 8, 2025, destroyed by the Palisades fire. (Eric Thayer / Getty Images)
By Gustavo Arellano
Columnist
Jan. 9, 2025 1:51 PM PT
{snip}
The attacks came from conservatives like Elon Musk, who called her “utterly incompetent” on social media. They came from progressives, who pointed out that her most recent city budget called for cutting expenses at the Fire Department while increasing spending at the Police Department. … They came from the political center via billionaire developer Rick Caruso, a Republican-turned-Democrat whom Bass defeated in the 2022 mayoral race and whose daughter lost a house in the Palisades fire. Attacks came too from CNN anchors, who repeatedly pressed L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson on whether it was smart for his longtime ally to be out of town when the blaze started.
L.A. is scared, seething and looking for a scapegoat — and who better, it seems, than a mayor who jetted to another continent despite warnings from weather forecasters that devastating winds were about to blast through a region that hasn’t seen substantial rainfall in months?
Never mind that she inherited a city with creaking infrastructure, gaping budget deficits and voters who demanded she address homelessness and crime more than fire mitigation. Or that few questioned her Ghana trip when she left on Saturday, before the wind warnings turned completely dire. A 20-year political career in Sacramento, Capitol Hill and City Hall — and before that, decades of community activism in South L.A. — is in danger of going up in smoke.
Accountability is essential, and many questions will be put to city, county, state and federal officials once the fires calm down, which sadly doesn’t seem to be anytime soon. When calamities happen, the person at top — whether mayor, governor or president — usually gets the first barbs thrown at them, fairly or not. Bass, of all people, should know it’s never a good look for an elected official to ignore a reporter, no matter how impolite or inopportune the queries may be.
{snip}
Column: Karen Bass was no Nero — and now’s the time for her to prove that
{snip picture}
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, left, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and Gov. Gavin Newsom tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades on Jan. 8, 2025, destroyed by the Palisades fire. (Eric Thayer / Getty Images)
By Gustavo Arellano
Columnist
Jan. 9, 2025 1:51 PM PT
{snip}
The attacks came from conservatives like Elon Musk, who called her “utterly incompetent” on social media. They came from progressives, who pointed out that her most recent city budget called for cutting expenses at the Fire Department while increasing spending at the Police Department. … They came from the political center via billionaire developer Rick Caruso, a Republican-turned-Democrat whom Bass defeated in the 2022 mayoral race and whose daughter lost a house in the Palisades fire. Attacks came too from CNN anchors, who repeatedly pressed L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson on whether it was smart for his longtime ally to be out of town when the blaze started.
L.A. is scared, seething and looking for a scapegoat — and who better, it seems, than a mayor who jetted to another continent despite warnings from weather forecasters that devastating winds were about to blast through a region that hasn’t seen substantial rainfall in months?
Never mind that she inherited a city with creaking infrastructure, gaping budget deficits and voters who demanded she address homelessness and crime more than fire mitigation. Or that few questioned her Ghana trip when she left on Saturday, before the wind warnings turned completely dire. A 20-year political career in Sacramento, Capitol Hill and City Hall — and before that, decades of community activism in South L.A. — is in danger of going up in smoke.
Accountability is essential, and many questions will be put to city, county, state and federal officials once the fires calm down, which sadly doesn’t seem to be anytime soon. When calamities happen, the person at top — whether mayor, governor or president — usually gets the first barbs thrown at them, fairly or not. Bass, of all people, should know it’s never a good look for an elected official to ignore a reporter, no matter how impolite or inopportune the queries may be.
{snip}
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