Erratic wildfire performance puts LA Mayor Karen Bass in a political hole

We may be seeing the meltdown of one of California’s highest ranking public officials, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Ever since wildfires began sweeping through Los Angeles County neighborhoods, Bass has been a day late and a dollar short, as the old saying goes, in response.

It began with the embarrassing fact that when fires erupted, Bass was thousands of miles away in Ghana, attending the inauguration of the country’s new president. That could have been just an unfortunate coincidence, but she traveled after the National Weather Service had issued sharp warnings that high and hot Santa Ana winds were creating “critical fire conditions.”

Bass later blamed others for not warning her about the peril, but as Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez wrote, “She should have called me. I had all the information I needed, along with a garden hose at the ready, and so did everybody else.”

Bass rushed back to Los Angeles in a military plane but fumbled questions about her absence.

As recounted by the Times, “Standing in the city’s Emergency Operations Center, the reporter wanted to know: What did Bass have to say to critics who were demanding she step down?

“Bass, standing with a clutch of city and county officials, promised a ‘deep dive’ into everything that had gone wrong. With the fires still raging, she made it clear she was done with the question.

“‘I answered it in the morning. I answered it now. Won’t answer it again,’ she told the room full of reporters.”

Although the entire news conference was posted on the county’s Facebook page, the question-and-answer segment was omitted from Bass’ page — and that wasn’t an isolated case, the Times reported.

“On the mayor’s Facebook page, video from a Jan. 8 evening wildfire news conference also excludes the Q and A segment. The same is true of the wildfire media briefing posted from the morning of Jan. 10.”

In contrast, everything said in fire-related news conferences has been posted by county officials — implying that Bass is more concerned about her image than communicating with her constituents.

In the early days of the wildfire crisis, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley accused Bass of underfunding firefighting capability, and the mayor accused Crowley of failing to warn her of the impending fire danger.

Later, after the Times reported that Crowley had not pre-stationed fire trucks in endangered neighborhoods as had been done in the past, Bass added that to her bill of particulars against the chief and fired her.

That touched off a debate over whether Crowley was scapegoated or canned for poor leadership. Either way, it added to the image of a mayor who was flailing — as did media reports of discord between Bass and members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

It’s a well-worn axiom that political careers are often made or ruined by how officeholders perform during crises.

Gov. Gavin Newsom eagerly took command during the COVID-19 pandemic, with virtually daily video reports. However, many of his administration’s actions backfired, such as shutting down schools and paying out billions of dollars in fraudulent claims for unemployment insurance benefits.

In a sense, Bass’ erratic performance is not surprising. Before becoming mayor, she had spent her entire political career as a state or federal legislator, positions that require consensus building rather than take-charge action, particularly during crises.

Bass is up for re-election next year and if she wants another term, she’ll be starting in a hole she dug herself.

Dan Walters is a CalMatters columnist.