Haven’t voted yet, but are looking for recommendations for Los Angeles’s citywide offices? Well, aren’t you glad you waited on us! Here are our recommendations for Mayor, City Attorney, and City Controller:

Mayor – We strongly endorse Karen Bass. Rick Caruso is LYING to you. The billionaire real estate developer (That should be enough to stop you right there) has been a Democrat for about 5 minutes, and his entire life has been dedicated to donating substantial sums to forced-birth causes. He will merely “disappear” the homeless, just as Rudy Giuliani did in New York City in the 1990s. He’s offering “emergency beds,” not actually planning to provide them housing.

We love Karen Bass for being a proven problem solver who has a multiracial, city-wide coalition of support from everyday Angelenos. She’ll be a champion for women and will bring into city hall a diverse set of exciting young and capable deputies. And speaking of city hall, Bass is arguably MORE of an outsider that Caruso! He’s been on one city hall commission after another over the years, while Bass has focused on community service and specific neighborhood needs as well as State and Federal issues. She should bring a much bigger change to city hall than he ever would, despite his attempts to sound like an outsider.

City Attorney – We’re not overly excited by either candidate, but in the end, we are siding with Hydee Feldstein Soto. Faisal Gill is the more progressive choice, but because he is arguing for the forgiveness of some minor misdemeanors, he is just as likely to face some reactionary recall election as D.A. Gascon. That’s not to say we don’t agree with his call to do so. But we are tired of “recall fever,” and the city can’t afford that negative distraction. But more importantly, we like the fact that Feldstein Soto has gained the endorsement of every candidate for the office she faced in the primary short of Gill, and she happens to have strong support from people we trust and our friends over at the L.A. Times. We also like the fact that she would be the city’s first female City Attorney.

City Controller – We strongly endorse Kenneth Mejia. He may make older voters uncomfortable with his modern style of campaigning through social networks like Tik Tok and choosing to swarm the streets with his loyal volunteers going door to door rather than pelt residents with traditional mailers.

On the other side, Paul Koretz SCREAMS someone for whom it’s time to retire from public life. He’s been in elective office forever and is really running for this job as a retirement bridge. As a city hall insider, he’s simply not going to challenge the city hall machine on its spending and operational practices the way Mejia already is!

Indeed Mejia has used his campaign to point out budget disparities and question the way things work in the city, proving to us that he’s ready to hit the ground running and shake up the status quo. Go with the brash young candidate in this one. Trust us, it will be the most exciting four years any city controller will have provided you in a long time.

west los angeles news
west los angeles news
Stay informed. Sign up for The Westside Voice Newsletter

By clicking submit, you agree to share your email address with Westside Voice. We do not sell or share your information with anyone.

RECENT FROM WESTSIDE VOICE: