THE BUZZ: CATCHIN’ BASS — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass enjoyed a long, even luxurious honeymoon with the city since ascending to its top office in 2022, building coalitions and staking a reputation as an in-the-weeds manager focused on local issues like homelessness. Then came the fires. Four infernos that have killed at least as many people tore through Los Angeles and neighboring cities while Bass was on a regrettably-timed diplomatic trip nearly 7,500 miles away in Ghana. While communities burned, thousands of residents evacuated and fire hydrants ran dry Tuesday, Bass was overseas. And on Wednesday, when everyone from President Joe Biden to Gov. Gavin Newsom and Sen. Alex Padilla made public appearances as the crisis escalated, Bass was still making her way home. The mayor’s striking absence immediately became a target for political foes and even some exasperated supporters, frustrating Angelenos and tarnishing her long-cultivated image as an assiduous and detail-oriented executive. “Is it as bad as Ted Cruz going to Cancun? No. But it could be an indelible dent in her image,” one veteran Democratic consultant in the city, who was granted anonymity to speak frankly about the political dynamics, told our colleague Melanie Mason, reporting from Los Angeles. Bass’ political nemesis, billionaire shopping mall developer Rick Caruso, accused his 2022 rival of shirking her duties. “Of course you don’t go,” Caruso said of her overseas expedition in an interview with Playbook. “That's not leadership. That's abandoning your post.” More criticism of Bass’ leadership came in from the owner of the Los Angeles Times and Tommy Vietor, the "Pod Save America" co-host and Obama White House alum. “Inexplicable decision to not come back earlier,” Vietor wrote on X. It wasn’t just her travel. Far-left (and conservative) activists online accused the mayor of cutting the fire department’s budget to pay for a costly new contract with the city’s police. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the aforementioned Los Angeles Times owner, echoed the attack, posting on X that “the Mayor cut LA Fire Department’s budget by $23M.” That assertion is wrong. The city was in the process of negotiating a new contract with the fire department at the time the budget was being crafted, so additional funding for the department was set aside in a separate fund until that deal was finalized in November. In fact, the city’s fire budget increased more than $50 million year-over-year compared to the last budget cycle. But the mayor’s team did not respond on the record to POLITICO inquiries about Soon-Shiong’s post, or address related falsehoods for many hours, allowing the incorrect information to circulate widely and take hold. Bass didn’t do herself any favors. She did not respond under nearly two minutes of tough questions from a reporter who cornered her, including one about the alleged budget cuts for fire. “Have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today?” the reporter asked her. “No apology for them?” he continued, as she looked on silently. “Do you think you should have been visiting Ghana while this was unfolding back home?” Finally, on Wednesday evening, at her first news conference since returning from Africa, Bass tried to emphasize the extent of her involvement with fire response from afar. Bass said she was in “constant contact” with her commanders, as well as with local, state and federal officials. Her allies in the police union came to her defense and accused Caruso of politicizing a crisis. “I took the fastest route back, which included being on a military plane, which facilitated our communications,” Bass said. “I was able to be on the phone the entire time of the flight.” GOOD MORNING. Happy Thursday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at dgardiner@politico.com and bjones@politico.com, or on X — @dustingardiner and @jonesblakej. WHERE’S GAVIN? In Los Angeles, working with local, state and federal fire officials responding to the Palisades fire.
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