#resignkarenbass

In December, two intrepid reporters, Paul Pringle and Alene Tchekmedyian, revealed that senior officials at the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) ordered changes to the official after action report regarding the fire, in an effort to cover up the department’s failures before and during the fire.

The original reporting laid blame primarily at the feet of then-interim LAFD Chief Ronnie Villanueva. Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times dropped another bombshell. It seems that Mayor Karen Bass — who for two months denied any involvement in the scandal, because of course she did — also demanded changes in order to try to minimize the city’s potential legal liabilities and her own political fallout. One of the story’s anonymous sources said, “All the changes [The Times] reported on were the ones Karen wanted.”

Bass should not only drop her bid for reelection, she should resign immediately. Her dereliction of duty prior to and during the fire contributed to the deaths of 12 Palisades residents in the fire itself, plus hundreds more scientists estimate died during and after the fire as a result of indirect causes including delayed medical care, trauma induced heart attacks and suicide. The full body count likely will never be known, as people succumb in coming years to long-term diseases caused by inhalation of toxic smoke and exposure to contaminated dust.The fire burned some 6,500 homes burned and inflicted at least $25 billion in damages. It’s very possible, indeed likely, that had she done her job and ordered LAFD to pre-deploy resources, surge personnel, potentially pre-evacuate vulnerable neighborhoods and taken other preemptive steps, the Palisades would still be standing.

Bass was quick to attack the story and the Los Angeles Times, saying in a prepared statement that it was “muckraking journalism at [sic] its lowest form.” She called the story “dangerous and irresponsible.”

What’s dangerous and irresponsible is the ongoing cover-up, 13 months later, of key details surrounding the January 2025 L.A. wildfires.

Matthew’s Garden Cafe in Pacific Palisades burns on the evening of January 7, 2025. Photo by Christopher LeGras

Also, someone ought to give Bass’s comms folks a little lesson in journalistic history. While sometimes used pejoratively, the vast majority of journalists would take “muckraker” as a high compliment, even a badge of honor.

As for Bass’s attack on the Times’s reporters’ reliance on third party, anonymous sources, here’s the line in the story that should keep her up nights: “The source added that both confidants said they are prepared to testify under oath to verify their accounts if the matter ends up in a legal proceeding.”

Bass’s own past actions lend further credence to the story. Last March, she was found to have intentionally deleted hundreds of texts between herself and various city officials during the fire, a brazen violation of public records laws. That story exposed Bass’s mendacity. After claiming that her phone was “not set to save texts” (a violation in itself), her team subsequently recovered many of the deleted ones. She’s the sloppiest cover up artist since Richard Nixon.

In short, Angelenos have few reasons to trust or believe Bass when it comes to this latest scandal.

Bass’s repeated derelictions of duty threaten public safety

This is more than the average political scandal. Yesterday’s revelation adds a new dimension to Bass’s repeated derelictions of duty. After action reports aren’t just important in helping officials and the public understand what happened, they are crucial learning tools for fire departments themselves. 

By shading the truth to fit a political agenda, Bass’s meddling deprives LAFD of learning some of those lessons that could save lives and property in the future. Given the magnitude of the missteps before and during the Palisades Fire, those lessons are particularly vital.

It cannot be said clearly or loudly enough: By putting her own political fortunes above the safety of L.A. residents, Karen Bass has violated her most fundamental, sacrosanct responsibility. And she’s done it multiple times.

Bass’s most consequential and highest profile failure was her decision, in the face of dire warnings from the National Weather Service and other agencies of a life-threatening situation throughout Southern California, to jet off to the other side of the globe on a literal ego trip. She prioritized photo ops with dignitaries at the swearing in of the new president of Ghana over her responsibilities as Mayor. By the time she returned more than 24 hours after the fire ignited, the city was in chaos. Multiple other fires ignited in the ensuing days and weeks, giving Angelenos the sense that Armageddon had truly arrived.

In a picture taken roughly two hours after the Palisades Fire erupted, Bass was all smiles.

At no point did Bass give the impression of a leader in control, calmly allocating resources, supporting officials and personnel on the ground and reassuring a terrified populace. She deflected and dissembled. She was painfully out of her depth, and L.A. suffered for it.

She put politics above public safety a second time while the flames still raged. She picked a fight with her own chief (who shoulders her share of the blame). Granted, Crowley threw the first punch in that ugly fight, but Bass proved incapable of being the bigger person and the better leader. In one interview, she claimed that Chief Kristin Crowley hadn’t warned her of just how dire the circumstances were. As if anyone in Southern California needed any more warning. Hell, the squirrels in the trees in my front yard were acting — pun intended — particularly squirrely in the days leading up to the fires.

Her very public spat with Chief Crowley added to the sense that no one was in charge. It had downstream impacts on LAFD’s ability to wage a maximum, coordinated response.

Karen Bass should never play poker. L.A. Times file photo.

The third time she violated her duties was a series of decisions. In the 13 months since she has obstinately refused to answer more than rudimentary questions about the fire, further impeding both officials’ and the public’s ability to learn the full story, and the important lessons it can teach. 

The cover-up, as they say, is often worse than the crime. The picture coming into view is of a desperate mayor using an interim fire chief to orchestrate a cover-up of a catastrophic series of failures. Bass must have figured that Villanueva would take the dirty laundry with him when he left. The report also helps explain why it took Bass so long to name a new full-time chief to a department that was in crisis: She had to wait until the report was finished, sweep it under the rug, send its pliant author on his way, and install a new chief.

Failure on top of failure on top of failure

For Bass, the Palisades Fire was the culmination in an unbroken succession of failures. Her signature “Inside Safe” homeless shelter and housing program has proven to be nothing more than more of the same, only more expensive. Speaking of expensive, rather than using the city’s budget shortfall as a chance to streamline operations and trim fat — both of which L.A. desperately needs — she prioritized preserving every single city employee’s job, choosing instead to cut services to residents. The city’s physical deterioration has continued, and accelerated, on her watch. And we remain hopelessly underprepared for major upcoming national and international events including this year’s World Cup, next year’s Super Bowl and, most ominously, the 2028 Olympics. Bass has done the impossible: She’s making Angelenos miss Eric Garcetti.

And let us never forget the record numbers of dogs that have been euthanized at L.A. shelters during her term. For that alone she deserves nothing but scorn.

L.A. cannot afford four more years of Karen Bass. For that matter, the city cannot afford four more days, or four more minutes. Even Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, another career political hack and congenital liar, had the good grace to drop his reelection bid in the face of a multibillion dollar nonprofit fraud scandal in his state.

Bass needs to join him, and drop out of her reelection campaign. If she doesn’t, Angelenos must vote her out of office. Not in November, but in the June primary.

She has no business continuing to lead. Time’s up.

#resignkarenbass