Bass and Caruso respond to City Council controversy

Los Angeles mayoral candidates Rep. Karen Bass and developer Rick Caruso faced off in their final televised debate on Tuesday, during which they largely focused on several City Councilmembers’ racist remarks in a recently leaked audio tape.

Both candidates expressed their disapproval over the comments that Councilmembers Gil Cedillo, Kevin de León and Nury Martinez made with Ron Herrera, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor president, last October in a conversation about redistricting.

“They went into a back room to carve up this city for their own special interests, for themselves,” Caruso said in his opening statement Tuesday. “The system is broken, and it’s full of corruption. I’ve been talking about this since the beginning of the campaign.”

Caruso, who served as chair of the USC Board of Trustees until Feb. 15, used his remarks as an opportunity to condemn the current leadership, a message he’s echoed throughout this campaign to support his election as a businessman who has held few political positions.

Kevina Collins, a senior majoring in political science and history who serves as the vice president of VoteSC, said the “trend of people who are not in politics going into politics” explains Caruso’s firmness in his outsider perspective. 

“People who feel disheartened by the government or lack trust in the government see somebody who is from the outside, and see them in a more positive light,” she said.

Bass, a 2015 graduate of the Peck School of Social Work, took the controversy as an opportunity to pledge her support for combating racial injustice in L.A.

“It is important to take stock, but it’s more important to move forward,” Bass said at the debate. “I have spent my life bringing communities together in times of crisis to tackle difficult problems, including racial conflicts. And especially at this moment, we need leaders who will bring Los Angeles together and move the city forward.”

Caruso attempted to tie Bass to the scandal in his Oct. 9 statement.

“Most of the people involved in this ugly episode have endorsed Karen Bass,” he said. “I hope she’ll do the right thing and demand for their accountability and renounce the endorsement of those who used hate speech.” 

At the time of Caruso’s statement, Martinez had endorsed Bass, while Cedillo had endorsed Caruso. Neither de León nor Herrera officially endorsed a candidate. 

Bass’s website no longer cites Martinez as an endorsement, but Caruso has not renounced Cedillo’s endorsement. Martinez and Herrera are the only ones to step down from their positions despite calls from both Bass and Caruso as well as President Joe Biden for the remaining councilmembers to resign.

Sophia Perez, a junior majoring in political science who serves as the executive director of the Political Student Assembly, said that while the scandal was hurtful, it may help with voter turnout in next month’s election.

“While it was hard to see and hard to hear as a minority, I think it could actually help voter turnout because people want to have a say in who they elect,” Perez said. “Students can rally against it.”

“While it was hard to see and hard to hear as a minority, I think it could actually help voter turnout because people want to have a say in who they elect. Students can rally against it.”

Sophia Perez, a junior majoring in political science and executive director of the Political Student Assembly

Both Perez and Collins said that voters should still do their own research to understand candidates’ policies and backgrounds.

“It’s also important to do research into their political stances entirely and their past political support,” Collins said. “If they’re not a politician and don’t have any experience in legislation, what is their voting record? Who have they voted for? What have they said in the past about certain policy issues?”

Perez added that Bass is not solely responsible for the lack of progress in L.A., as Caruso often characterizes.

“There’s a lot of bureaucratic engagement that goes into the policies that come out in Los Angeles,” Perez said. “However, when [Caruso] is saying that billions of dollars are funneled into homelessness campaigns every single year and nothing is getting done, he was correct in that statement.”

The Associated Press reported Monday that Caruso had upped his campaign spending to encourage voter turnout with just under a month until election day, which will take place Nov. 8.

Caruso has spent $62.6 million so far compared to Bass’s $6 million, according to the L.A. City Ethics Commission. Recent investments include additional canvassers, door-to-door volunteers and political bankers targeting Latinx, Asian and independent voters.