Column: Karen Bass appears headed to victory. L.A. needs fixing, let’s hope she can deliver.
I think L.A. needs a new leader. I can’t help but believe it’s Karen Bass. I think she is going to carry L.A. into the future.
Bass, 43, is a political newcomer. Her campaign is the first serious attempt to unseat the current Democratic mayor of L.A. from office. She entered the race a month after winning a special election to fill out a term in the City Council. She had previously served two terms on the Los Angeles Unified School Board and two terms in the City Council.
She was re-elected in 2013.
Her biggest achievement was serving on the Los Angeles City Council, where she was appointed to the Economic Development Committee, which was known at City Hall as the “business committee.” She is also the first woman to serve on the school board and the first woman to serve at all three city council positions.
A former executive at AT&T, she has lived in Orange County for the past 15 years. She will face off with incumbent Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“When I first came into office in 2011, I really was just focused on bringing about change and getting things done to make our city a better place overall and I think that’s really where I’m at now,” Bass said when asked about her thoughts.
She is considered a populist, but not a socialist, and believes she can make substantive, good-faith changes to the way things are done in Los Angeles and do it without alienating key voters.
Garcetti, however, is not likely to relinquish power easily. He has been in office since 2002 and in his first 14 years in office, he has faced multiple recall elections and been defeated. He did, however, win re-election in 2010, despite being under investigation during the 2012 election for a $1.2 million city contract and a second contract