California November 2022 Ballot- Los Angeles Mayoral Race

A leopard cannot change its spots


That is one of those old adages that I do not always agree with. Some people are indeed capable of instituting change within themselves. One of the best examples of this is my late father. In 1968 he was part of the campaign 'machine' of Robert Kennedy. He was at the Ambassador Hotel the night Sirhan Sirhan shot and killed RFK. 16 years later, he was living in Dallas. He was a very staunch Republican now. Why? His attitudes changed because he'd become a millionaire. He lent his stretch limousine to the RNC for their convention in Dallas. I have always been a fiscal conservative who is very liberal socially. I was a Republican. Now I'm not.

But my dad and I are the exceptions to that adage. Because it is true in the case of Rick Caruso, one of the two candidates running to become the next Mayor of Los Angeles. He is running commercials touting the fact he changed his registratiob from Republican to Democrat. He claims to be pro-choice. I don't buy that claim. He is a staunch Catholic. His private foundation contributes to multiple Catholic entities. He was anti-choice until after he launched his campaign to become Mayor. In my humble opinion, he is the same person he was a year before he threw his platinum-lined hat into the ring.

Speaking of his private foundation, it is seriously delinquent in filing the required tax returns. The last year filed was the 2019 return. The 2020 return for his foundation was due no later than 10/15/2021. The 2021 return was due on 10/17/2022. I get that he did not want scrutiny of his personal income tax returns (just like Donald Trump). Why would such a successful business owner fail to file required returns with the IRS. He will incur five-figure-size fines for late filing.

Caruso is accusing his opponent Karen Bass of corruption over a $95,000 scholarship she received from USC. Did she accept a scholarship? Yes. Was it corruption? No, if we are willing to accept that the House Ethics Committee reviewed the situation and granted her a waiver of the "no-gift" rules. There is a 2011 letter proving this.

Rick Caruso was the Chair of the Board of Trustees at the University of Southern California from 2018 until he announced he was running for Mayor in February of 2022. Multiple scandals took place under his stewardship of the university. The "pay for play" admissions scandal known as "Varsity Blues." There was the George Tyndal sexual abuse and harassment scandal, which happened before he became Board Chair. But he was involved in the attempted cover-up of this scandal. Details of his 9 hours of testimony in a deposition regarding the scandal. Caruso had promised to release the questions to the public in 2019 but never did it.

Then there's the boat thing. You can read the details here.

I do not know Karen Bass personally. But I live in the district she represents in the House of Representatives. I think she would do a far better job as Mayor of Los Angeles. Of the two choices in this race, she is by far the better one. She is not making promises she will be unable to keep once elected. Caruso has promised to build 30,000 interim housing "interventions" in 300 days. A bit too ambitious it would seem.

The bottom line is that the last thing L.A. needs right now is someone who makes big promises that they cannot deliver on.

Vote for Karen Bass for Mayor of Los Angeles.