Karen Bass, Nithya Raman Clash Over Accountability

Who needs mayoral hopeful Spencer Pratt’s memes and trolling when you can place Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and 4th District Council Member Nithya Raman on a debate stage together?

That’s what happened Tuesday evening at an event sponsored by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association as Bass and mayoral hopeful Raman needled one another on accountability and power during the hour-and-a-half debate. While much of Pratt’s jabbing since announcing his run for mayor in January, including blaming Raman and Bass for the state of the city, has occurred on social media, Tuesday offered the incumbent and her former supporter a chance to face off directly against one another.

While the format with only two of the 14 candidates was criticized, SOHA said the event was aimed at hosting two leaders representing the San Fernando Valley neighborhood on “two critical — and complementary — levels of government” and to avoid a “circus-style” debate.

As moderator Phil Shuman, a reporter for Fox 11, sought to sort through issues top of mind for Sherman Oaks residents, the constant clashing between Raman and Bass stole the show. Jabs over who should be held responsible for the lack of headway on homelessness, housing, police department retention and other issues weaved the evening’s narrative.

The disagreements at one point led Raman to accuse Bass of “pay-to-play of the worst kind” when it came to her relationship with the Los Angeles Police Protective League and a ballooning police budget.

“They’re spending millions of dollars in this race against me because I spoke the truth and I spoke out against an unsustainable contract,” Raman said.

Alex Stack, a spokesperson for Bass, on Wednesday redirected to Raman’s record on public safety funding, including the council member’s January vote against increasing police recruitment hires.

“Councilwoman Raman is trying to distract from her votes to cut the police force and close the police academy, which worsen 911 response times and force the city to pay more in overtime,” Stack said in a statement to The Real Deal.

While Bass touted a citywide infrastructure plan addressing street and park maintenance that was unveiled on Monday, in addition to reduced permit fees and shortened filming application times to woo back Hollywood productions, Raman accused the mayor of timing these actions with her reelection campaign.

“Don’t go there because that urgency began the day I took office, but I didn’t just slap a bunch of paper together. It took a while,” Bass said of her infrastructure plan on Tuesday.

Raman reduced the infrastructure outline as a “plan to create a plan.”

Bass didn’t let Raman off the hook.

“You have been in City Hall actually twice as long as I have,” Bass said. “You chair one of the most important committees.”

Raman, who chairs the city’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, stepped into her council seat in December 2020 and won her second term in March 2024.

On density

The same theme of accountability, or lack thereof, carried into the contentious debate over Senate Bill 79, which aims to boost transit-oriented housing development. Residents in suburban areas such as Sherman Oaks and the Pacific Palisades have expressed concerns over the density SB 79 would bring, equating that with more traffic in their communities.

At the time the state legislation was signed into law, Bass expressed concerns over the impact the bill would have on neighborhood input within planning and zoning.

In March, the Los Angeles City Council voted to allow for increased density in certain parts of the city, in a move allowable under the law and effectively delaying full implementation of SB 79.

Raman accused Bass of writing an opposition letter to Sacramento that “did nothing” and “now we have to grapple with the results,” rather than planning ahead of time.

The comments cleared another path for Bass to accuse Raman of a lack of accountability, asking the 4th District representative why she hasn’t acted on the issues she’s bringing up in her tenure on the council. Raman, as in many other instances throughout the evening, pointed out her role as one of 15 council members.

“Are you actually trying to tell me that as one of 15 council members — one who has pushed for better planning practices and has been struck down, one who has pushed for grappling with density to the council — you’re saying that somehow I should have gone around 14 other council members,” she said.

State of play

The debate occurred amid a crowded landscape of candidates jockeying for mayor. They’re set to face one another on the June 2 primary ballot. If no one candidate nabs a majority of the vote, the top two will head to a November run-off.

Outside of Bass and Raman, the other frontrunners are Pratt, tech entrepreneur Adam Miller and housing advocate Rae Chen Huang.

Pratt, while once viewed by some as an unlikely opponent, has increasingly pushed to the fore.

He raised the most ($538,478) of any candidate in the most recent reporting period from Jan. 1 to April 18 and has since continued to build up his war chest. As of last week, his campaign had pulled in an additional $140,000 — which was more than Bass, Raman, Miller and Huang — post-April 18.

Bass’ own campaign website said Pratt “has been able to solidify the MAGA vote bloc” and called him a “strong contender” should the race move to a run-off.

That assertion was noted by Raman during the debate when she asked Bass, “Why are you promoting the campaign of a MAGA Republican,” while offering “[web] pages of negative comments about me?”

An inquiry to Pratt’s campaign team on the “MAGA” characterization was not immediately returned Wednesday.

While Pratt is a registered Republican, all City Council members and the mayor run as non-partisan. Pratt told TRD in an email last month, “Partisan politics has no place in local elections.”

“I’m not running on a party label — I’m running against a record of destruction,” Pratt said. “Karen Bass and Nithya Raman have steered the precipitous decline of this city, and no amount of PR can hide what Angelenos of every class, race and political party can see with their own eyes every day.”