Part 158: The Contradictions of Rick Caruso - Privilege and Power in Los Angeles
Part 158: The Contradictions of Rick Caruso – Privilege and Power in Los Angeles
Published February 27, 2025.
Zachary Ellison
Feb 27, 2025
Candidate Rick Caruso shakes hands at a debate with then Congresswoman Karen Bass in 2022 at the Skirball Cultural Center (Allen J. Schaben, Los Angeles Times).
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By Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalist
Former Mayoral candidate Rick Caruso, who also just happens to be a billionaire real estate developer, finally gave an interview worth listening to following a recent tour of podcasts that included Joe Rogan. In a new interview with journalist Bari Weiss on her podcast The Free Press entitled “Can Rick Caruso Save LA?” The answer is, at best, a resounding maybe, with Caruso not committing to challenging Mayor Karen Bass in 2028 and giving a pass for now on the race to replace outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom. Rick Caruso gives Bass a D grade and Newsom a B while maintaining that it’s “too early” to rate Donald Trump despite insisting that he disagrees with his political positioning on immigration. Trump, who vowed in his first administration to build a wall with Mexico and make our neighbor to the south pay for it, wins a pass from Caruso because he’s the elected President of the United States of America.
At the same time, Rick Caruso lavishes Elon Musk with praise for “donating his time to his country.” Weiss misses an opportunity to press him on whether Caruso thinks that Palisades fire recovery czar Steve Soboroff should be paid on the February 18 published recording. According to a new report from the Los Angeles Times by journalists Julia Wick and David Zahniser, in presumably knowingly recorded comments from Soboroff, he exclaims, “I was lied to” about the compensation for the position, maintaining that he thought he deserved an expected $500,000 for 3 months of work. It’s still unclear what exactly Soboroff was expected to provide in return, but perhaps Caruso should just pay him instead so Soboroff doesn’t have to complain about not getting a salary most Angeleno’s couldn’t dream of earning at the privileged Harvard-Westlake School. Meanwhile, Rick Caruso’s new foundation, Steadfast LA, has secured a donation of modular homes to replace those lost in the wildfires.
Link: https://zacharyellison.substack.com/p/part-158-the-contradictions-of-rick