Wildfire disaster proves why 'competence,' not party, matters in electing leaders: L.A. Times owner
Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong hit American voters with an "I told you so" about their elected leaders' response to the L.A. area wildfires.
Slamming the competence of local officials, Soon-Shiong posted on X that their handling of the crisis proves exactly why voters should not be electing leaders based on party lines.
"Maybe the lesson we learned out of this catastrophe in California is to now vote not based on left or right or D versus R but perhaps based on competent or no experience in operating a job !!" the entrepreneur wrote from his account on Thursday.
"We have to elect based on competence…yes competence matters," he added.
Soon-Shiong has made waves over the last few months by stressing the follies of partisanship in American politics. His perspective has motivated him to mandate that his paper would not endorse a candidate for the 2024 presidential election – a move that roiled the outlet’s staff and audience, which leans liberal.
The owner also announced the creation of a new, more impartial editorial board for the Times, among other moves he has proposed to ensure that it doesn’t become "an echo chamber of one side."
Soon-Shiong has said his goal is to make the paper a "middle-of-the-road, trustworthy news source."
The owner’s focus on being non-partisan found its way to his recent critiques of California and Los Angeles leaders, with him stressing that the wildfire disaster proves that getting caught up in choosing leaders based on their political affiliation distracts from knowing whether they can handle a crisis.
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Soon-Shiong made it clear earlier this week his belief that Democratic leaders in the state are incompetent.
In an X post on Wednesday, he said, "Our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes and are seeking shelter. Fires in LA are sadly no surprise, yet the Mayor cut the LA Fire Department’s budget by $23M. And reports of empty fire hydrants raise serious questions. Competence matters…"
Though Bass’ original budget proposal sought to cut $23 million, city authorities cut LAFD funding by $17 million last year.
In a followup post on Thursday, he wrote that "The ‘false’ alarm warning to evacuate today to entire LA county is yet another example" of the incompetence of California’s leaders.
Soon-Shiong appeared to be referencing a false mass evacuation alarm for the entire Los Angeles County sent out just before 4 p.m. PT on Thursday that was quickly retracted.
A subsequent alert went out to county residents that read, "Disregard last EVACUATION WARNING. It was for Kenneth Fire Only," referring to residents living near Calabasas and Agoura Hills – near the scene of the Kenneth fire.
A local official chalked the false evac order up to a "technical error."