Bass unendorses Gill for city attorney
Meanwhile, mayoral candidate Rick Caruso slams both Democrats
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Karen Bass said Friday that she has dropped her support of city attorney candidate Faisal Gill, who has called for a 100day pause on prosecuting misdemeanors including drug crimes — a message delivered by Bass before Rick Caruso took aim at Bass for backing Gill.
Caruso staged a news conference outside the Grand Central Market food court in downtown Los Angeles flanked by placards that characterized Gill's policies as “extreme.” The billionaire developer stood near a barbecue eatery and ushered small-business owners to the podium who criticized Bass' endorsement of Gill.
Caruso said Bass supports policies that “threaten to erode public safety,” according to City News Service, adding that, “The men and women of this city that work every day, employ people, have to run a business — that's the backbone of our economy — but they have to suffer with break-ins, they have suffer with crime and they have to suffer with homelessness.”
Before Caruso's news conference, Bass said in statement that she “absolutely” disagrees with Gill's policy of placing a 100day hold on misdemeanor filings and said “our campaign contacted the Gill campaign and withdrew our support on Wednesday.”
Gill has said he wants to reduce prosecution of crimes including drug possession, public intoxication, minor driving offenses, loitering, failure to pay a parking ticket, failure to appear in court and resisting arrest.
Caruso then criticized Bass' decision to take back her support for Gill, saying, “What is she going to be like as a mayor when there's tough decisions that have to be made? … She's going to run the other way, just like she did this morning.”
He blamed Bass for helping boost Gill to a first-place finish in the June primary. He is now heading to a November runoff against Hydee Feldstein Soto, who last week scored a coveted endorsement from the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
The party highlighted its support for Feldstein Soto and joined the criticism of Gill's criminal justice and police reform ideas, saying in a tweet that Gill “just ain't it” and that Angelenos should vote for Feldstein Soto.
Gill reacted with a scathing at
tack directed at Caruso that spared Bass and the party.
“It's no surprise that after being rejected by voters in the June election for mayor, billionaire Rick Caruso is engaging in fear-mongering tactics,” Gill said in his statement, “and is deploying a strategy pulled directly from the (Donald) Trump playbook — to lie, mislead and
deceive voters about my plans to transform Los Angeles.”
Gill said his plan to place a 100-day pause on filing misdemeanor crimes such as drug offenses still would let the City Attorney's Office prosecute “egregious crimes.” He said he wouldn't go after crimes like “loitering, drug possession, minor in possession of alcohol, failure to pay a parking ticket and failure to appear in court.”
His statement said he would prosecute crimes
such as assault, domestic battery and theft.
He slammed Caruso, saying, “If Rick Caruso wants to ignore our city's mental health crisis, that's his prerogative, but he doesn't have to lie about my policies to do so.”
Gill claims that the courts are weighed down primarily by low-level crimes such as public intoxication and “simple DUIs.”
Bass' campaign would not specify why she withdrew her endorsement of
Gill but denied it was in response to the L.A. Democratic Party's endorsement of Feldstein Soto. Bass recently garnered the party's endorsement.
Gill tweeted that “Regardless of the events of today, Karen Bass is a personal friend & I am proud to support her mayoral run. That said, we want to clarify the facts.”
Bass' endorsement of him was on Gill's website early Friday, but later in the day it was no longer there.