(Ariel Zilber’s post from the NEW YORK POST on 10 January 2025.)
LA Times owner rips Mayor Karen Bass for slashing
fire department budget: ‘A bad call’: The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles
Times, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, blasted the city’s mayor, Democrat Karen Bass,
for her “poor planning” and “poor judgment” in slashing the budget for the fire
department, which has been hamstrung while trying to contain the wildfires that
have devastated entire neighborhoods.
“The mayor wanted $23 million [cut], she got $17.8
million as I understand. But that’s a sort of, really, I think a bad call,
especially water and fire is exactly, you know, I see the end result of that
devastation,” Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong told the Fox
News Channel during an appearance on Thursday’s Special Report.
Firefighters working to combat the blazes that have killed at least 10 people encountered empty hydrants and insufficient water pressure — limitations that are being attributed to the budget cuts that have hampered the city’s emergency response capabilities. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the owner of the Los Angeles Times, criticized the mayor's handling of the devastating wildfires.
Soon-Shiong said his newspaper’s coverage has
focused on the “whole issue of leadership.” He said “part of the reason of our
being is to call accountability to those in power.” Bass, who was elected mayor
in 2022, is being pilloried after she approved a $17.6 million cut to the Los
Angeles Fire Department budget. Those funds were redirected to address rampant
homelessness in the city, but subsequent inquiries revealed that nearly half of
the reallocated funds went unspent.
Bass was also criticized for taking a trip to Ghana
to attend the inauguration of the president even though weather officials had
warned of unusually strong winds that posed an increased risk. The mayor’s
absence during the early stages of the crisis is believed to have delayed
critical on-the-ground decision-making.
 |
| Mayor Bass and Governor Newsome came too late to burnt-down Malibu. |
Bass' administration cut millions from the Los Angeles Fire Department budget. Firefighters trying to combat the blaze have encountered empty hydrants and insufficient water pressure. Bass on Thursday was evasive when pressed by reporters over the city’s preparedness for the devastating wildfires that erupted while she was in Africa.
When a CBS News reporter asked the mayor why it
took “several hours” for fire engines to respond while bystanders directed
traffic, Bass deflected, saying: “We have to protect lives, we have to save
lives, and we have to save homes.” The fires have leveled entire communities in
neighborhoods such as Malibu.
 |
| LAFD Chief Crowley was rumored to be fired by Mayor Bass. |
Soon-Shiong, the South Africa-born physician who made his fortune in pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, blocked his newspaper’s editorial board from endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris before the election.
The move prompted some of the newspaper’s
journalists to quit the editorial board in protest. He has since sought to
diversify his newspaper’s op-ed pages by adding more conservative voices.
Soon-Shiong recently announced that Scott Jennings, the former George W. Bush
aide and CNN commentator, was added to the editorial board.
