Letters to the Editor: Karen Bass won. Rick Caruso conceded. L.A. shows how democracy is done.
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles voters have delivered at the polls a Democratic primary vote. They showed up and participated. They said “yes” to a better government from which we hope to someday grow.
With the results in, one of the candidates who made this election an important opportunity to “build a better L.A.” is on top.
I voted for Karen Bass (D-San Jose), the candidate best able to serve in the role of L.A.’s best mayor.
Bass, a career prosecutor and former public defender who now serves as L.A. City attorney, had a very strong argument for her position as the best candidate to help the city move forward.
She argued that since she ran for this office, rather than as an independent, she has lived in every neighborhood and knows all of the issues and needs. She’s a lifelong resident and is known by all residents to be a competent, knowledgeable public servant who will do things right, from her first day as mayor.
Bass was clearly the right choice.
Let’s not forget that we’ve been here before, in 1995 when Karen Bass was first elected city attorney, and in 2000. Bass never lost an election to any elected position — from public defender to mayor.
The Los Angeles Times article on her success as mayor includes this quote: “Karen Bass has a real record as a lawyer and politician. She’s been involved in the courts for 25 years and has spent four years prosecuting white-collar crime cases, and as an elected official, she has successfully negotiated agreements with creditors and written legislation to deal with public union problems.”
It’s true that she was involved in a public defender’s office in San Jose as an attorney and a public defender. But after four years she didn’t have to run for mayor. She already had a record.
And when she ran for mayor in 2010, she got reelected — against Democrat Ed Reyes, a public defender, and against Republican Frank Aguirre, a businessman and lawyer, both of whom had records as public defenders.
In 1995, we also had a record in L.A.’s elections for this