Los Angeles voters are not the only people unsettled by the city’s mayoral choices. Councilwoman Traci Park says she will vote for Mayor Karen Bass, even as she stops short of endorsing the incumbent’s campaign.
“I’m not endorsing Karen Bass, but I am voting for Karen Bass,” Park said Wednesday during a Pacific Palisades town hall. “And I know that that is a very, very tough ask for some of you.”
Park’s striking distinction came as she voiced deep concerns about Los Angeles’ direction and criticized challenger Nithya Raman’s positions on policing and criminal prosecutions.
“I am very concerned about what the future of our city looks like.”
The councilwoman delivered a blunt warning about what she believes Raman’s law-enforcement policies could mean for the city.
“This is someone that has been very clear that she wants to defund and abolish our police.”
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“She is part of the coalition of people that will refuse to prosecute misdemeanors in the city of Los Angeles.”
Park’s comments came after a tense debate between Raman and Bass. Raman repeatedly declined to set a timetable for replacing LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell ahead of the 2028 Olympics, while Bass argued that her opponent was not prepared to run the nation’s second-largest city.
Raman drew further attention after the debate when she offered an unusual account of her memory of the evening.
“I’m so sorry but I was in fugue state and I don’t remember very much of it at all,” Raman told NBC4 shortly after Tuesday night’s debate in Universal City.
Meanwhile, Bass is facing legal scrutiny over her response to the deadly Palisades Fire.
Former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, whom Bass removed after the blaze, filed a defamation lawsuit in June. The suit alleges that the mayor made false statements about Crowley during a May debate.
Crowley’s attorney, Mia Munro, is seeking to question Bass under oath about those remarks.