Karen Bass, the Frontrunner for L.A. Mayor, Is Getting a Lot of Advice
variety.comGene Maddaus Senior Media Writer As his term in office winds down, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has kept a low profile. But he spoke at a recent downtown luncheon and offered some advice to the next mayor — whether it’s Karen Bass or Rick Caruso. “The top three issues for my successor — it’s housing, it’s housing and it’s housing,” Garcetti said. “There is no issue more important than housing.” Bass is leading Caruso by a significant margin in the polls, and so she in particular has been getting a lot of advice lately.
Among her most influential supporters is Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul who has spent $1.85 million to boost her campaign — making him her largest single financier.
Katzenberg has taken a special interest in the city’s homelessness crisis, and made the rounds of local officials in 2021 as he sought to jump-start efforts to address it.
In an interview, Bass said she did not know Katzenberg until the summer of 2021, when he urged her to run for mayor. “I’ve been very excited and appreciative of his support, and moved by his stories around homelessness,” Bass said. “I got to know him a little over the summer last summer.
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