Editorial: What L.A. needs from Mayor Karen Bass
A recent Los Angeles Times story about a former L.A. County Board of Supervisors candidate, who ran for the state Senate last year, included a quote from him:
I learned something in college, and it’s actually true. The one thing that people don’t talk about as much as they should is that they should have money. Money is the best teacher. It makes you teach your children how to think and how to work. I have a great deal of respect for the people that work for me and I think they’re the best workers I’ve ever had. They know what they’re doing, but they’re not lazy. They know what they’re doing, because they are successful at what they do.
It’s a noble sentiment.
I know money doesn’t have a place in politics, the way it does in business or in being a parent, but it certainly makes many people want to do a harder job. It makes them work harder.
Los Angeles needs a mayor it can be proud of. As it is now, the city and the state have a dysfunctional relationship. The mayor is always in over his or her head. The city is constantly underfunded. The state is chronically underfunded. And the state has no one to answer to (except, of course, the politicians who are actually elected, in other words, the people who want to take part of our taxes and pay for their campaigns).
The people working with and for the City Council, the Mayor’s Office and the state Legislature must work together if they’re going to make any progress at all. This is a relationship that has been tested by many failures in the past — including the failure of the state Democratic Party, which is now in a position of utter failure.
So what do we want from our mayor?
First, you need to support her.
Second, be sure any deals you make with her are not bad deals — that includes a good deal