Before she came under intense public scrutiny for her response to the wildfires sweeping through Los Angeles, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was held in the highest regard by leading figures in the Democratic Party.
President Biden once considered Bass a top vice presidential contender in 2020, while former President Barack Obama previously predicted she would be an “outstanding mayor” for the city.
When Bass was a U.S. representative from California, the Biden campaign interviewed her as a potential running mate for the then-Democratic nominee. As reported by Politico At the time, the campaign deemed the lawmaker “compelling but not flashy,” “trusted by progressives but still respected by Republicans,” and “passionate, but not someone who will let her own goals overshadow her responsibilities as Biden’s front-runner.” 2.”
Years before the Los Angeles wildfire crisis, President Biden once considered Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to be his running mate, while former President Obama once predicted she would be an “excellent” mayor of Los Angeles. (Roberto Schmidt/Contributor | Rodin Eckenroth/Stringer | Scott Olson/Staff)
After Senator Kamala Harris eventually secured the position, Bass ran for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022, drawing high praise from Obama, who He called her that year She predicted that she “will be an outstanding mayor of Los Angeles.”
This high praise for Bass by two of the party's top brass came into question as Bass was under fire for how she handled the wildfires that destroyed large parts of her city.
With the fire destroying thousands of homes, killing at least 11 people, and forcing nearly 200,000 people from their homes, the city's mayor has come under fire for enacting budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Between fiscal years 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, Bass supervised Fire department parts Its budget was about $18 million, while its initial proposal was to reduce it by an even greater amount – up to $23 million.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo unveil the 2024-25 fiscal budget at City Hall. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images) (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The LAFD's 2023-2024 fiscal year budget of $837 million is also dwarfed by the city's $1.3 billion homeless budget.
Bass was under intense pressure for traveling abroad to Ghana earlier this week, meaning she was thousands of miles away from her home city during the crisis. The first day of destruction Tuesday.
The mayor quickly returned home on Wednesday, where she faced a barrage of media questions about her whereabouts.
“Do you owe the citizens an apology for being absent while their homes burned? And do you regret cutting the fire department's budget by millions of dollars, Madam Mayor?” Sky News correspondent David Blevins asked as Bass waited to get off the plane on Wednesday after her trip to the African country.
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The mayor of the city appeared Struggle for the answer Reporter's initial questions. She eventually replied: “I took the quickest route back, which involved being on a military plane, which facilitated our communications. So I was able to stay on the phone for the entire flight.”
Film director and former “Family Ties” star Justin Bateman He summed up the anger many locals felt toward Bass and other city officials, saying, “If you're going to run a city or a state, you've got to take care of the basics, and that's making sure your fire and police department are well-funded.”
“If you can't cover the basics, get out of our city. You are useless to us. You are a burden and you have ruined people's lives because you did not do your job,” she said. “You didn't do what you were hired to do. You didn't do what we paid you to do,” she added.
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Kira Moton of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
