Heated debate for LA mayor takes place at Bovard Auditorium

Candidates fired attacks at each other amid discussions around housing and affordability, policing and the pandemic as USC hosted the second mayoral debate for the City of Los Angeles on Tuesday night at Bovard Auditorium. The debate was sponsored by USC Dornsife’s Center for the Political Future, the LA Times, and Fox 11 Los Angeles. The candidates are Rep. Karen Bass, Councilman Joe Buscaino, businessman Rick Caruso, Councilman Kevin de León, and City Atty. Mike Feuer.

Under the stage lights, the five candidates stood equidistant from each other while grilled with questions from the moderators: LA Times’ Erika D. Smith and Fox 11′s Elex Michaelson. Michaelson noted the connections the various candidates and himself have with USC but clarified that the university did nothing more than host the event. The room was filled with energy as all candidates replied with passionate answers to questions about issues affecting Angelenos.

In the midst of all this, there was no shortage of banter and attacks the candidates threw at each other. Caruso seemed to be the target of many attacks, one example being the instance where Feuer pointed out his lack of experience in public service.

Many of Caruso’s answers relied on his plan to “clean up” City Hall, referring to the “lots of corruption” among Los Angeles’ politicians. In his first response, Caruso laughed and pointed out he did not have notes prepared for the debate like his opponents. This was his first debate as a candidate. Nearly all of the other candidates took aim at Caruso mentioning his assets, his connection to Dist. Atty. George Gascon, and his $100 million private yacht.

The first topic of the debate was focused on homelessness in the City of L.A. Bass and Feuer said they would declare a state of emergency on their first day in office, with both mentioning the issue is the most important priority L.A. must address. de León talked about his experience being unhoused and said he would work to reallocate existing funds and resources to better address homelessness. “If we can build basketball arenas and football stadiums, we can sure as hell build affordable housing,” de León said. Joe Buscaino’s answer was similar in the sense that he called for use of already established resources, but followed with an attack on Caruso’s lack of experience. Caruso responded with, “I don’t know how you quantify success when the problem has gotten worse under your leadership.” Both Buscaino and Caruso mentioned they will add beds for homeless people to sleep in at shelters as their first task in office.

When addressing encampments on city streets and sidewalks, there was a clear divide in the candidate’s answers. Caruso and Buscaino both intend to send LAPD officers on encampment sweeps. In both of their plans, they would give opportunities for homeless people to shelter and after declining, they will be removed by police. “You need an encampment law with teeth,” Buscaino said. He said people see L.A. as a place where you can settle on a tent in the street and do drugs freely with no repercussions. “Our city has enabled this behavior.”

“You should never criminalize poverty.” Bass said. She said she would promote programs and resources for homeless Angelenos and emphasized she would never give LAPD the responsibility of clearing encampments.

When asked how safe they felt walking the streets of L.A., most candidates said they do feel safe, but recognized a rise in crime and the importance of addressing it. This led to whether or not the LAPD should be defunded. “Instead of increasing LAPD budget, we can better utilize our existing resources to help combat crime,” said de León, just one of many ways he mentioned using already established programs and resources to combat crime. Bass and Feuer’s approaches were similar; both are interested in creating neighborhood-tailored plans for community crime reduction.

Caruso and Buscaino both plan to fund the police and add more officers to the force. Buscaino said Angelenos will feel more safe seeing more police officers in their neighborhoods. “Let’s fund the police…you can’t put a dollar value on saving a life,” Caruso said. While Feuer has a community-based approach to crime reduction, he also plans to add 10,000 more officers to LAPD. He said an increase in officers will allow for more coverage and faster response times. Feuer also said he would like LAPD to be more diverse and to hire more college graduates. After hearing the other candidates advocate for more funding, de León said, “In order to fund the police, you have to raise taxes on everyday Angelenos.” He also said funding the police would take away from other resources such as after-school programs and Meals on Wheels. “As the only one who wore an LAPD badge, my plan is to add 1,000 officers to neighborhoods…LAPD is doing God’s work,” Buscaino later said. Toward the end of the debate during the speed-round of questions, Buscaino said LAPD officers are, “the angels of the City of Angels. I fully support officers, but the moment you tarnish the badge, I will hold you accountable.”

The conversation later shifted to the pandemic and the effect COVID-19 has had on Los Angeles. Feuer and Bass said they will both “follow the science” and take whatever precautions public health authorities recommend to protect Angelenos. de León said the city had two different stories to tell of the pandemic: the one where the rich got richer and the one where the working class were put on the frontlines and risked their lives to keep the city running. “There were a giant disproportionate effects of the pandemic,” he said. “I will create a public health department to cut through all the bureaucratics.” Caruso expressed his disapproval of L.A. officials in their response to COVID-19 and highlighted the struggles small businesses faced due to pandemic mandates. Buscaino celebrated as he motioned to the audience, pointing out mostly everyone was maskless. “The emergency is over. One of my first things I will do is end the employee vaccine mandate. It hurts the police force,” he said.

Other topics on the agenda included discussing issues with current District Atty. George Gascon and Mayor Eric Garcetti. All of the candidates agreed, to a certain extent, that Gascon made some mistakes during his time in office — Buscaino encouraged a recall while Bass defended Gascon. On Garcetti, the candidates applauded his work on sustainability in the city, but criticized his response to crime, homelessness, etc. Buscaino said Garcetti was a visionary who lost touch with what was happening “on the ground.” Bass said Garcetti’s weakness was not seeing the problem of homelessness as an emergency. “I believe we treated homelessness like a chronic disease and it has metastasized,” she said.

Near the end, the candidates talked about their stances on housing affordability, with moderator Erika D. Smith saying rent was, “too damn high.”

“We’re over regulated. We need to reduce taxes, fees and incentivize low income folks to move into housing,” said Caruso. Quickly after, de León called out the issue with Caruso’s vision, saying one can’t let the free market address housing insecurity, as it usually leads to inequity, especially among marginalized groups. If elected, de León plans to establish a fund to help first-time homebuyers.

“We need to look at the people holding the many luxury housing units,” said Bass. She said there were too many empty luxury units owned by people who live overseas.

Feuer talked about his plan on keeping rent control policies, which is usually opposed by landlords and developers. He took the opportunity to attack Caruso. “You haven’t done much in the way of building homeless and affordable housing,” Feuer said. “All the opportunities you had instead, you’ve opposed rent control.”

Next, there was a back and forth between the two. Caruso brought up a federal raid on the offices of Feuer while he questioned Caruso on his 100 million dollar yacht. Eventually, the argument led to the topic of Caruso’s tax documents and whether he pays his fair share of tax dollars. Feuer said he planned to make public his last five years of taxes and asked Caruso if he would do the same. After a pause, Caruso said he would if the other candidates did the same.

The rest of the night continued with high tensions. At some point, Caruso said, “this is obviously a three-against-one or something.” Two USC students had the opportunity to ask questions to the candidates, along with some viewers who submitted questions before the debate through social media platforms. The moderators led the debate to the last possible second, with a speed round of questions like, “Who is your favorite artist?” (Bass likes Stevie Wonder) or “What was the last TV show you binged?” (to which Caruso had no answer).

The primaries for the L.A. mayoral race will take place on June 7, 2022.