Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been criticized for attending a presidential inauguration in Ghana while wildfires ravaged her city. She faced backlash for her delayed return, with opponents highlighting the crisis and questioning her leadership.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been criticized after it emerged she was out of the country, attending a presidential inauguration in Ghana , as northern and western suburbs of her city were hit by devastating wildfires fanned by high winds. Media outlet INKL News reported this morning that Bass was on her way back to Los Angeles and should return to the city within hours.
Newsweek contacted Bass' office for comment on Wednesday via telephone and voicemail message outside of regular office hours. Three wildfires on the outskirts of Los Angeles have burned more than 4,000 acres according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, with Evacuation Orders from the state agency requiring thousands of residents to leave their homes. Bass was elected in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election, defeating billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso, a fellow Democrat, with 43.1 percent of the vote against 36 percent. The mayor has since been criticized over levels of street crime, raising questions about her 2026 reelection hopes. Bass had been in Ghana as part of a four-member U.S. presidential delegation attending the inauguration of new Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She has come under attack for not returning to the U.S. sooner in response to the infernos, with Caruso telling local network Fox 11 that there had been a 'failure' of leadership and management adding that 'everybody knew these winds were coming' so the risk should have been anticipated. Caruso also questioned why brush in the hills surrounding Los Angeles hadn't been removed to reduce the fire risk and claimed a 'reservoir was not refilled in time and in a timely manner to keep the hydrants going,' which he blamed on city authorities. Bass has provided a succession of updates via social media. At around 2:30 a.m. PST, on X, she wrote: 'Our LAFD and LAPDHQ teams continue to work overnight to protect Angelenos affected by fires in L.A.
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