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IcyPeas

(21,737 posts)
Tue Jun 7, 2022, 10:10 PM Jun 2022

Rick Caruso's Potemkin Campaign. The mall developer has spent over $30 million to buy the mayor's se

Interesting article about Rick Caruso (candidate for L.A. Mayor - running neck n neck with Karen Bass)

The mall developer has spent over $30 million to buy the mayor’s seat in Los Angeles. But his policies and messaging are as fake as his shopping centers.

But Rick Caruso, the developer known for building garish, Disney-fied malls like the Americana in Glendale and The Grove in the Fairfax district, has spent roughly three out of every four dollars in L.A.’s mayoral campaign, nearly all of it from his own bank account, in advance of Tuesday’s primary, in which 11 other candidates have also been running. This unusually large spending blitz, supplemented by endorsements from Gwyneth Paltrow, Kim Kardashian, and Elon Musk, is intended to net Caruso the simple majority he’d need to avoid a runoff in November.

He’s currently running neck and neck in the polls with Rep. Karen Bass, with most of the other top-flight candidates having already dropped out. So despite Caruso’s long history as a Republican in a Democratic city (he switched his registration from the GOP to “decline to state” in 2019 and became a Democrat only this January, a fact he obviously finds so potentially damaging that he sent a cease and desist letter to the Los Angeles Times to prevent them from publishing it), it’s not impossible that he will find enough support in a low-turnout primary to end the race outright.
...
There’s significantly less than meets the eye in his ambitious proposals, however. Caruso has vowed to make 30,000 shelter beds available in his first month in office, with no sense of where they would go or how wrenching it has been to secure even a fraction of that space for bridge housing in any corner of the city. He has called for affordable housing to be built, though not at any of his properties, which have hardly any affordable units.


https://prospect.org/politics/rick-carusos-potemkin-campaign/



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SunSeeker

(51,367 posts)
1. I sure hope Angelinos don't fall it. I can't vote for Bass since I live in Orange County.
Tue Jun 7, 2022, 10:34 PM
Jun 2022

But, a lot of people are being swayed by Caruso's promise to "end homelessness."

bahboo

(16,234 posts)
2. he's gotten a lot of heavy duty endorsements...
Tue Jun 7, 2022, 10:42 PM
Jun 2022

even Snoop Dogg for chrissakes. Mindboggling. It will be he and Bass in November. Homelessness is a HUGE problem in LA right now...

 

Just A Box Of Rain

(5,104 posts)
3. I voted for Karen Bass today...a vote that was never in question.
Tue Jun 7, 2022, 10:47 PM
Jun 2022

I'll be watching the returns tonight with some trepidation.

The lastest LA Times poll says neck and neck with neither getting an outright win, but Caruso has blanketed the airwaves with ads that (with my impartial political scientist hat on) I think have been very effective.

I'm hoping my "gut" is wrong. As long a there is a runoff I think Bass will have the opportunity to mount a counterattack. But Caruso has tried to go for a first-round knock out (by aiming to win the race with over 50% in the primary).

We will know soon.

As to his malls, I think it is fair to call them Disneyfied, but "garish" is an inapt adjective IMO.

tishaLA

(14,176 posts)
4. You're right--they've been effective
Tue Jun 7, 2022, 11:21 PM
Jun 2022

because he's an absolute cypher whose "plan" to end homelessness is to declare a state of emergency, which cuts out city council, and "I alone can fix it."

If there were more money spent against him to talk about his donations to Moscow Mitch, serving on the board of the Reagan Library, etc., he could be defeated. My primary hope is that he doesn't hit 50% so Bass can live to fight another day.

 

Just A Box Of Rain

(5,104 posts)
5. Do you have a link to where Caruso said his plan was to declare a state of emergency
Tue Jun 7, 2022, 11:37 PM
Jun 2022

that would cut out the City Council? That's something I never heard myself.

tishaLA

(14,176 posts)
6. maybe carusocan.com?
Wed Jun 8, 2022, 12:18 AM
Jun 2022

"Declaring a State of Emergency will give us the ability to expedite sheltering decisions by creating a single point of accountability in the Mayor and getting City Council politics out of the way. We can’t solve this problem with 15 career politicians catering to the loudest special interests — we need a single point of accountability who answers only to the voters."

https://carusocan.com/issues/homelessness/

 

Just A Box Of Rain

(5,104 posts)
8. Wow! Thank you. I'm stunned.
Wed Jun 8, 2022, 12:27 AM
Jun 2022

I do not recall ever once hearing that Caruso proposes to declare an emergency as a way to grab power away from the City Council being discussed during the campaign.

Never. And I live in LA and (like most on DU) follow politics closely.

This is truly horrifying. I very much appreciate you bring this to my awareness.



JI7

(89,172 posts)
9. He isn't fooling anyone. People want someone that will be tough on crime and do something about the
Wed Jun 8, 2022, 12:34 AM
Jun 2022

homeless . Support for him is a result of the situation in Los Angeles .

Many minorities are supporting him also . I voted for Karen Bass but I also know how things are here and what people are voting on.



Chainfire

(17,304 posts)
10. It is only right that public office goes to those that can afford it.
Wed Jun 8, 2022, 10:02 AM
Jun 2022

Who wants to have a bunch of average Joes calling the shots.......

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