Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record \u2014 our City Hall newsletter. It\u2019s David Zahniser and Noah Goldberg, giving you the latest on city and county government. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of the most exacting tasks to face a left-leaning candidate running for office in L.A.: filling out the Democratic Socialists of America\u2019s questionnaire.<\/p>\n
During the candidate endorsement process, the DSA\u2019s L.A. chapter issues a lengthy form that ends with a spate of yes or no questions, mainly around hot-button topics: Do you support Medicare for All? Do you favor the policies of the Green New Deal? Would you put a halt to police exchange programs with Israel?<\/p>\n
When filling out the form, mayoral candidate Nithya Raman voiced support for all three. But unlike some DSA-endorsed candidates, the council member declined to give a yes or no answer on an assortment of other topics, opting for longer explanations.<\/p>\n
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Sign up to make sense of the often unexplained world of L.A. politics.<\/p>\n
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service<\/a>, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy<\/a> such as personalizing your experience and ads. <\/p>\n Raman, a DSA member, declined to check either box when asked if she would work as mayor to repeal a law prohibiting homeless encampments near schools. She did the same on whether to divert funds from law enforcement into other public services.<\/p>\n She also declined to say yes or no on removing police from K-12 schools, and on banning the use of facial recognition and other surveillance technologies.<\/p>\n The answers offer the latest sign that Raman has been proceeding with caution on some of the DSA\u2019s litmus test issues. Raman, who tweeted \u201cdefund the police<\/a>\u201d six years ago, said in February that the ranks of the Los Angeles Police Department should not get any smaller<\/a>. <\/p>\n Appearing Wednesday in Pico-Union, she said she was proud to have the DSA as part of her coalition but also described herself as politically independent.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve made sure that the decisions that I\u2019m making, the votes that I\u2019m taking, are ones that are based on an understanding of how these policies are actually going to improve the lives of Angelenos,\u201d said Raman, who received the DSA endorsement<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n Mayor Karen Bass, Raman\u2019s opponent, did not seek the endorsement, saying she was not aligned<\/a> with some of the group\u2019s positions.<\/p>\n Raman\u2019s questionnaire stands in contrast with those of some of her DSA colleagues.<\/p>\n Hugo Soto-Mart\u00ednez answered nearly every yes-no question posed by the DSA during his first run for City Council in 2022. Ysabel Jurado did the same during her successful council campaign two years later.<\/p>\n So what were Raman\u2019s longer answers? On homeless encampments, she wrote that she has repeatedly voted against increasing the number of locations where tents are prohibited \u2014 and doesn\u2019t want to saddle homeless people with criminal records that could stifle their ability to find permanent housing.<\/p>\n Regarding cuts to the LAPD, Raman said she would expand the city\u2019s network of unarmed crisis response teams, ensuring that \u201ctrained professionals\u201d \u2014 not police officers \u2014 respond to mental health and substance use calls.<\/p>\n On campus police, Raman said schools \u201cshould never default to armed officers for discipline or student well being.\u201d And on facial recognition software, Raman said she would prohibit surveillance technologies that lack \u201cclear evidence of need and completely enforceable safeguards for civil rights and privacy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI will also require real oversight and consent before the city deploys any of it,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n Raman even declined to say yes or no when asked if she wants noncitizens to vote in local elections. But she explained in writing that she voted earlier this year to put a proposal<\/a> from Soto-Mart\u00ednez on the ballot that would give the council the ability to enact noncitizen voting<\/a> for city and school board elections.<\/p>\n The council later dropped<\/a> that measure.<\/p>\n Picking apart the Paramount deal<\/p>\n Raman and Bass weighed in recently on the deal<\/a> struck by California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Paramount Skydance Chief Executive David Ellison on the studio\u2019s merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.<\/p>\n Both mayoral candidates said Paramount should be held accountable for the promises contained in the settlement, which requires the company to distribute 30 films per year in theaters for the first two years after the merger, then 32 films per year for the next three years.<\/p>\n Of the two, Raman sounded more dismayed by the deal.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a better outcome than this,\u201d Raman told reporters at a recent news conference. \u201cBut this is the outcome that we have, and now it\u2019s incumbent upon us to fight for the best results for workers here.\u201d<\/p>\n For much of this year, Bass and Raman voiced concern that the merger would trigger mass layoffs within the film and television industries. But last month, Bass began calling for the two parties to engage with each other<\/a> in good faith, saying too many productions had come to a standstill, putting people out of work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prolonged uncertainty around this decision has already led to job losses and left workers wondering what it would mean for their futures,\u201d Bass said in a statement this week.<\/p>\n The settlement alleviated the anxiety felt by some at City Hall that Paramount might follow through on its threat to leave California.<\/p>\n Bass\u2019 stance aligned her more with IATSE, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, whose leaders voiced their own concerns about uncertainty while appearing with the mayor at City Hall last month.<\/p>\n Raman was more in sync with Writers Guild of America West, which denounced Bass<\/a> for pressing Bonta to seek a resolution, saying \u201cindustry workers deserve a mayor who believes in upholding the law.\u201d<\/p>\n Bass\u2019 campaign is supported by IATSE Local 33 and the California IATSE Council, which said earlier this year that the mayor has \u201cdone more to bring our jobs back to Los Angeles than anyone in city government.\u201d <\/p>\n On Thursday, the Writers Guild endorsed Raman,<\/a> saying she is a \u201ctrue pro-labor candidate who walks the walk.\u201d<\/p>\n State of play<\/p>\n \u2014 POLLING PRESSURE: A new poll put Raman decisively in the lead<\/a> in the mayor\u2019s race, showing her with a double-digit advantage over Bass. The findings will ramp up the pressure<\/a> on Bass and her allies to go sharply negative against Raman while courting the huge number of voters who say they are still undecided.<\/p>\n \u2014 MAKING THEIR CASE: Bass and Raman sat down with The Times for two separate<\/a>, wide-ranging<\/a> interviews, discussing issues like homelessness, the Palisades fire and the biggest mistakes they\u2019ve made in office.<\/p>\n \u2014 PEOPLE MOVER POSTPONED: The opening date of the People Mover train being built at Los Angeles International Airport has been delayed yet again<\/a>, with contractors now aiming for early January. The 2.25-mile automated train, which has been over budget for years, was originally supposed to open three years ago.<\/p>\n \u2014 EXECUTIVE ORDER: Bass ordered a review<\/a> of the LAPD\u2019s dealings with mentally ill people this week, saying the training that police officers are receiving is \u201cwoefully inadequate.\u201d The mayor said she was particularly troubled by a July 29 incident in which police fatally shot a man who approached them with an aluminum bat.<\/p>\n \u2014 HURDLES TO HOUSING: Why has housing production been lagging in L.A.? Real estate developers pointed to a list of reasons<\/a>, including high interest rates, pandemic-era policies like rent freezes and Measure ULA, the voter-approved tax on high-end property sales.<\/p>\n \u2014 TRUMP REBUFFED: An appeals court blocked the Trump administration<\/a> from stopping the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from applying for millions of dollars in federal funding. The agency had applied on behalf of homeless service organizations from across the county.<\/p>\n QUICK HITSWhere is Inside Safe? The mayor\u2019s signature program to address homelessness went to the area around 11th and Irolo streets, a location represented by Councilmember Heather Hutt. That\u2019s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to LAontheRecord@latimes.com<\/a>. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here<\/a> to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.<\/p>\n
On the docket next week: Bass and Raman are slated to appear Tuesday at the Skirball Cultural Center for the 2026 Jewish Los Angeles Mayoral Forum<\/a>. The event is hosted by the Jewish Federation Los Angeles, the Skirball Cultural Center, ADL Los Angeles and other groups.Stay in touch<\/p>\n