Billionaire developer Rick Caruso took a swipe at Spencer Pratt’s long-shot mayoral bid — while doubling down on his scathing criticism of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass over her response to last year’s deadly wildfires.
Caruso believes the former reality TV star’s political ambitions may be “well-intended,” but warned that Los Angeles can’t afford another inexperienced leader running a city of nearly four million residents.
“I think he’s a very well-intended guy,” Caruso told The Hollywood Reporter of Pratt, a fierce critic of Bass who kicked off his mayoral campaign this week.
“The only thing I would say about anybody who wants to run is that we’ve had somebody that didn’t have the experience to run the city, so I think experience is really important in knowing how to manage a job like that.”
Caruso, who was narrowly defeated by Bass in 2022, teased a return to the mayoral race before quickly backing off, following a bombshell Los Angeles Times report alleging Bass tampered with the city’s after-action report on the devastating Palisades fire.
The report claimed the lefty mayor ordered her staff to water down key findings, downplaying the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failures when the inferno erupted, destroying 16,000 homes and structures, causing $150 billion damages, and leaving 12 dead.
“It’s an outrage. It’s unthinkable,” the billionaire tycoon told the Hollywood Reporter.
“It is a complete violation of public trust to have an elected official, a mayor, a chief executive that takes an oath of office to protect people and to execute her job, and to be changing an official report that is intended to learn from so that it doesn’t happen again.”
He called Bass’s alleged self-serving edits a “cover-up,” warning that altering an official analysis meant to prevent future disasters “undermines the whole validity of the report.”
When asked if he’s surprised Bass is seeking re-election, Caruso refused to weigh-in, quipping, “I’m going to say something I’ll probably regret.”
“What I will say is that some people may not have the best self-awareness and understanding of their responsibilities and are not willing to be held accountable,” he said.
“She’s just not willing to be held accountable — for anything — and that’s not good leadership. That’s bad leadership.”
Bass, who has already been heavily scrutinized over her handling of the Palisades fire, has repeatedly denied claims she altered the fire analysis.
