Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong said in an interview Monday that it was a mistake for his paper to endorse Democratic Mayor Karen Bass, whose leadership and decision-making were tested and proven wanting by the fires that have
torched much of her city.
“At the L.A. Times, we endorsed Karen Bass. I think right now that’s a mistake, and we admit that,” Soon-Shiong, a transplant surgeon and businessman who created a drug used to treat various kinds of cancers, told
“The Morning Meeting” podcast.
“This fire has given us a wake-up call as a paper,” added Soon-Shiong.
The two front-runners in the city’s
2022 mayoral general election were Bass and billionaire businessman Rick Caruso.
Caruso, a successful real estate developer who actually improved parts of his city, serving also as president of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners and as president of the Department of Water and Power, campaigned on helping the city reach its potential, cleaning up city hall, and clamping down on homelessness.
Bass, who spent a decade voting for leftist legislation in Congress and lecturing Americans about racism, similarly suggested that she would tackle the homelessness problem; however, the former congresswoman repeatedly played up her immutable characteristics and antipathy for President-elect Donald Trump in her pitches to voters.
‘Competence matters.’
Ahead of the election, Bass
received endorsements from President Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, as well as from the Los Angeles Times, whose editorial board suggested in October 2022 — months after championing her candidacy in the primary — that she was the right person for “Angelenos [to] look to in a crisis, who can set the tone of the political discourse and should act as the moral compass for city policy.”
The Times’ editorial board simultaneously portrayed Bass as the “most experienced public official in the race” and as an outsider willing to challenge the status quo.
“Los Angeles needs a leader who can bring Angelenos together and who has a holistic vision for a better city. Karen Bass is that person,” added the editorial board.
Bass won with 54.8% of the vote.
Now, with over 12,300 buildings destroyed and 40,644 acres burned in Los Angeles County and mounting concerns over the extent of her mismanagement, Bass — who broke a pledge to spend the early days of the devastating fires gallivanting around Africa and who recently oversaw budget cuts to the city’s fire department — is fast losing supporters.
After noting that he had observed “more people in the L.A. community that probably were very supportive of Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass in the past openly be critical of both of the two,” former Trump White House press secretary Sean Spicer asked Soon-Shiong to what extent Los Angelenos were holding their leaders accountable.
“We’ll accept some blame,” said Soon-Shiong, adding that the Times’ endorsement of Bass was a mistake.
“I thought it was very important early on for me to come out, and I think we were one of the few to say, ‘Competence matters,'” continued the paper’s owner, referring to a viral Jan. 9 tweet in which he
stated, “Maybe the lesson we learned out of this catastrophe in California is to now vote not based on left or right or D versus R but perhaps based on competent or no experience in operating a job !! We have to elect based on competence … yes competence matters.”
“Maybe we should think about how we elect people on the basis of — did they actually run a job, do they actually make a payroll, do they understand what it is,” the paper owner told the podcast, “rather than having professional politicians whose only job is really to run for office.”
Soon-Shiong noted further that Trump’s success in the 2024 election demonstrated the importance and appeal of leaders who are not only aware of the real problems affecting Americans and their communities but who can also competently do something about those problems.
Bass’ current term ends in 2026. The city’s next mayoral election will be held next year on June 2.
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Karen bass, Bass, Gavin newsom, California, Wildfires, Fires, Palisades fire, Democratic, Mayor, Patrick soon-shiong, Los angeles, Los angeles times, La times, Politics, Media
