LA Mayor's Wildfire Blunder Looks Even Worse After Campaign Promise Resurfaces
The lethal wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area since last week have fixed Americans’ attention on failed California Democrats.
Now, it appears that the establishment might have handed its media allies a scapegoat, albeit one who actually deserves blame.
In an October 2021 interview with The New York Times — an interview mentioned near the beginning of a lengthy story published on Sunday — then-mayoral candidate Karen Bass pledged that should she win election to the Los Angeles mayor’s office should would refrain from traveling outside the country.
Today, as the Times admitted, Bass’s pledge “has been spectacularly broken.”
A former U.S. representative and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Bass focused heavily on U.S.-Africa relations.
In fact, the prospect of giving up regular trips to Africa made her think twice about running for mayor.
“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 said in the 2021 interview.
To serve as mayor, however, she would make the sacrifice.
If elected, she promised “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.”
Hence the Times’s use of the phrase “spectacularly broken.”
Indeed, one could scarcely imagine a more obvious instance of a politician’s pledge ignored.
When the wildfires broke out, Bass found herself in the West African nation of Ghana. Visiting West Africa, of course, qualifies as international travel.
Then, when confronted by a reporter at an airport on her way back to Los Angeles, Bass said nothing. She repeatedly and cold-heartedly refused to answer questions or even give a statement about the wildfires.
Meanwhile, the public has read an avalanche of damning reports about the mayor’s priorities before and since the fires began.
In short, Bass must resign or face recall. Any public servant who so spectacularly fails a test this important has no other choice.
At the same time, however, we must not lose sight of the bigger picture.
After all, the establishment has a recent history of delivering scapegoats who deserve some, though not all, of the blame.
Most notably, for instance, recall that then-Secret Service Director Kim Cheatle had to resign in the wake of the first assassination attempt against then-candidate and now-President-elect Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Cheatle, of course, deserved to face calls for resignation. But so did her boss, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who nonetheless remained in office.
The establishment media even turned on President Joe Biden following his disastrous debate performance in July. At that point, of course, Democratic Party elites wanted Biden out of the 2024 presidential race.
In like manner, Democrats may sacrifice Bass in order to salvage the state’s oily governor, Gavin Newsom.
Thus, we may applaud the Times for reminding readers of Bass’s broken promise. But we also must not forget that the establishment media takes its marching orders from Democrat elites.
In short, Bass must go, but so must Newsom.
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