As multiple wildfires devastated the Los Angeles area for a second day, Mayor Karen Bass returned to the city Wednesday morning following a trip to Africa for the inauguration of Ghana’s president — but her absence in the early stages of the crisis drew criticism, particularly from several of her political opponents.
In a four-second video posted on X, Bass on Wednesday was seen speaking with Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla alongside members of Cal Fire. Representatives from the mayor’s office did not respond to numerous inquiries for further details on her arrival.
“The impact of these fires and winds are devastating. I just got off the phone with President Biden and discussed an urgent path forward toward recovery for the thousands of families impacted,” Bass said on Wednesday’s social-media post accompanying the video. “Thank you Gov. Newsom and Sen. Padilla for your continued support for our city.”
Bass left for Ghana on Saturday, and, according to her office, was in communication and kept up to date on the city’s response to the fires.
“The mayor will be on the ground shortly, very shortly this morning and engaged, but I want to assure the community and the city, our mayor has been actively engaged 100% of the time, the entire last 24 hours throughout this unfortunate event and crisis,” Bass’ Deputy Chief of Staff, Celine Cordero, said during an early-morning news briefing that featured numerous regional elected officials and emergency personnel.
“The mayor has been in constant communication with our chief of police, our fire chief, our council president, our law enforcement partners, our supervisor, and our county partners,” Cordero added. “… She has had 100% access the entire time that she’s been traveling and been actively involved in the decision-making.”
L.A. City Council President/Mayor Pro Tem Marqueece Harris-Dawson was the highest-ranking city official to attend Wednesday’s news briefing.
Bass was scheduled to join other local, state and federal officials for a news conference later Wednesday to provide an update on the windstorm and the various wildfires burning in the area.
But her absence in the earlier stages drew criticism from, among others, billionaire businessman Rick Caruso, who lost the mayoral election to Bass in 2022.
“What is most concerning to me is, our first-responders and our firefighters who are trying to battle this — there’s no water in the Palisades, there’s no water coming out of the fire hydrants,” Caruso said on Fox 11 Wednesday morning.
“This is an absolute mismanagement by the city. It’s not the firefighters’ fault. … And I’ve got to be very honest, we’ve got a mayor that’s out of the country and we’ve got a city that’s burning and there’s no resources to put out fires. … It looks like we’re in a Third World country here.”
Caruso’s criticisms also extended beyond Bass, as he added, “We’ve got a lot of tough questions that we need to ask the mayor and the City Council and our representatives and the county representatives.
“Why didn’t you work to mitigate this? What was your brush mitigation program? … The brush up in these hills that are controlled by the city and the county, I would bet you they haven’t been handled, mitigated, pruned, removed for probably 30 or 40 years. This was a disaster waiting to happen, and what’s predictable is preventable.”
Meanwhile, Richard Grenell, an adviser to President Trump in 2020, posted on X, “The national media hasn’t even mentioned that Karen Bass is in Africa while our city is literally burning to the ground.”
And billionaire Elon Musk, a current Trump adviser, posted on X, which he owns, “Obama made sure that Rick Caruso, who is extremely competent, lost to utterly incompetent Mayor Karen.”