Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record \u2014 our City Hall newsletter. It\u2019s Julia Wick, with an assist from David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government. <\/p>\n
Several millennia ago during the Trojan War, an army of Greeks built a massive wooden horse, feigned departure and left it as a \u201cgift\u201d outside the walled city of Troy. <\/p>\n
The Trojans brought the offering \u2014 filled, unbeknownst to them, with Greek soldiers \u2014 into their fortified city and unwittingly wrought their own downfall. At least that\u2019s how the legend goes. <\/p>\n
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So if an attack disguised as a gift is a Trojan horse, what do you call a gift disguised as an attack? <\/p>\n
One could argue that the attempted recall of Mayor<\/b> Karen Bass<\/b> inadvertently fits the bill.<\/p>\n
Back in early March, Silicon Valley philanthropist and former Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/b> running mate<\/a> Nicole Shanahan<\/b> launched an effort<\/a> to recall Bass. At the time, Bass was still on her back foot \u2014 an incumbent, first-term mayor who\u2019d become a national target for her initial response to the Palisades fire. <\/p>\n It\u2019s notoriously difficult<\/a> to gather enough signatures to trigger a recall. But Shanahan\u2019s extremely deep pockets (her ex-husband co-founded Google) made anything possible. With the mayor already wounded and Angelenos feeling angry and frustrated, a well-funded recall effort could have been the spark that torched Bass\u2019 reelection chances.<\/p>\n That did not come to pass. <\/p>\n Proponents didn\u2019t even finish<\/a> the paperwork necessary to begin gathering signatures, then tweeted in June<\/a> that a recall would \u201cno longer be our vehicle for change\u201d and that they would instead focus on holding elected officials accountable at the ballot box in 2026. Their spokesperson has not responded to several emails from The Times. <\/p>\n But the short-lived recall effort had one effect its proponents likely did not anticipate. During a tenuous moment for Bass, they may have unintentionally handed her an extremely useful tool: the ability to form an opposition committee unencumbered by limits on the size of the donations she collects. <\/p>\n The threat from Shanahan\u2019s group allowed Bass to form her own anti-recall campaign committee \u2014 separate from her general reelection account, which cannot collect more than $1,800 from each donor. Now, she could raise more money from her existing supporters, in far larger amounts.<\/p>\n Flash forward to this week, when the latest tranche of campaign finance numbers were released, revealing how much was raised and spent from the beginning of the year through the end of June. While Bass\u2019 official reelection campaign took in an anemic $179,589, her anti-recall coffers hoovered up more than four times that amount. <\/p>\n The nearly $750,000 collected by the anti-recall campaign included two major donations at the end of March that we previously reported on: $250,000 from the Bass-affiliated Sea Change PAC and $200,000 from former assembly speaker and Actum managing partner Fabian N\u00fa\u00f1ez\u2019s<\/b> leftover campaign cash<\/a>.<\/p>\n Along with N\u00fa\u00f1ez and Sea Change, the largest donors were philanthropists Jon Croel <\/b>and William Resnick <\/b>($25,000 each), businessman Baron Farwell <\/b>($25,000) and former City Councilmember Cindy Miscikowski <\/b>($15,000). Several others gave $10,000 a piece, including pomegranate billionaire and power donor Lynda Resnick.<\/b> <\/p>\n It\u2019s far easier to rally donations when you\u2019re dealing with an impending threat. (\u201cSave the mayor from a right-wing recall!\u201d is much catchier than asking for reelection dollars when a serious challenger has yet to jump into the race.) And it\u2019s infinitely faster to stockpile cash when you aren\u2019t limited to $1,800 increments. <\/p>\n \u201cAfter the fires and what had happened, anything was possible, and we had to mobilize, and that\u2019s what the mayor did,\u201d said Bass campaign strategist Doug Herman. <\/b>\u201cBut the people of the city didn\u2019t want to have a recall in the midst of what they thought were more serious problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Shanahan declined to comment. <\/p>\n When the recall effort officially times out on Aug. 4, the Bass camp will no longer be able to raise unlimited sums to fight it (with a few exceptions, such as expenses related to winding down the committee or settling debt). But the anti-recall committee will still have quite the extra arsenal to fire off in her favor. <\/p>\n Sometimes your loudest enemies are really friends in disguise. <\/p>\n State of play<\/p>\n \u2014WHITHER CARUSO? <\/b>Brentwood resident and former Vice President Kamala Harris <\/b>announced this week<\/a> that she would not be running for governor, intensifying questions about whether former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso <\/b>might jump into the gubernatorial race … or potentially challenge Bass again for mayor. Through a spokesperson, Caruso declined to comment. <\/p>\n \u2014 RACE FOR THE 8TH FLOOR: <\/b>City Attorney candidate Marissa Roy <\/b>outraised<\/a> incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto <\/b>during the latest fundraising period, delivering a major warning shot about the seriousness of her campaign. For now, Feldstein Soto still has more cash<\/a> on hand than Roy, who is challenging her from the left.<\/p>\n \u2014 COASTAL CASH: <\/b>In the race for a Westside council district, public interest lawyer Faizah Malik <\/b>raised a hefty $127,360<\/a>, but her stash pales in comparison to the $343,020 that incumbent Councilmember Traci Park <\/b>brought in<\/a> during the most recent filing period. That\u2019s far more than any other city candidate running in the June 2026 election.<\/p>\n \u2014 AHEAD OF THE PACK: <\/b>Council staffer Jose Ugarte<\/b>, who\u2019s hoping to succeed his boss, termed out Councilmember Curren Price<\/b>, in a crowded South L.A. race, raised a whopping $211,206<\/a>, far outpacing his rivals.<\/p>\n \u2014 VIEW FROM THE VALLEY: <\/b>During this filing cycle, Tim Gaspar <\/b>and Barri Worth Girvan <\/b>both brought in real money in the race to succeed outgoing Councilmember Bob Blumenfield<\/b> in the West Valley. Girvan outraised Gaspar<\/a> during the past half-year, but Gaspar entered the race earlier and still has substantially more cash on hand<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 WHERE\u2019S MONICA? <\/b>One incumbent who didn\u2019t report any fundraising is Valley Councilmember Monica Rodriguez<\/b>. When reached Friday, Rodriguez said she is still planning to run for reelection and was in the process of changing treasurers. She did not answer when asked whether she was also considering a potential mayoral bid, as has been rumored.<\/p>\n \u2014 WHAT ABOUT KENNETH? <\/b>City Controller Kenneth Mejia<\/b> does not have any campaign finance numbers listed because he qualified his reelection committee after the June 30 fundraising deadline. He\u2019ll be required to share fundraising numbers for the next filing period.<\/p>\n \u2014 LOWER LAYOFFS<\/b>: The number of employee layoffs planned for the 2025-26 fiscal year continued to decline this week, falling to 394, according to a report released Friday by City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo<\/b>. Bass\u2019 budget had proposed 1,600 earlier this year. Szabo attributed much of the decrease to the transfer of employees to vacant positions that are not targeted for layoff.<\/p>\n \u2014 TOKENS OF APPRECIATION: <\/b>According to her disclosure forms, Bass\u2019 reelection committee spent more than $1,100 on gifts \u201cof appreciation,\u201d including flowers sent to Mayer Brown lawyers Edgar Khalatian, Dario Frommer <\/b>and Phil Recht<\/b>; Fabian N\u00fa\u00f1ez<\/b>; lawyer Byron McLain<\/b>; longtime supporters Wendy <\/b>and Barry Meyer<\/b>; author Gil Robertson<\/b>; former Amazon exec Latasha Gillespie<\/b>; L.A. Labor Fed head honcho Yvonne Wheeler<\/b>; lobbyist Arnie Berghoff<\/b>; Faye Geyen<\/b>; and LA Women\u2019s Collective co-founder Hannah Linkenhoker. <\/b>The most expensive bouquet ($163.17, from Ode \u00e0 la Rose) went to Lynda Resnick. <\/b><\/p>\n \u2014 PIZZA INTEL: <\/b>Bass has not, to my knowledge, publicly shared the names of her reelection finance committee. But her forms list a $198.37 charge at Triple Beam Pizza for food for a \u201cfinance committee meeting\u201d with Cathy Unger, Victoria Moran, Ron Stone, Kellie Hawkins, Todd Hawkins, Cookie Parker, Stephanie Graves, Leslie Gilbert-Lurie, George Pla, Wendy Greuel, Byron McLain, Chris Pak, Travis Kiyota, Areva Martin <\/b>and Kevin Pickett. <\/b>Bass\u2019 consultant did not immediately respond when asked if that list constituted her finance committee, and if anyone was missing.<\/p>\n \u2014 FAMILY-FRIENDLY PROGRAMMING? <\/b>Speakers at Los Angeles City Council meetings will be banned from using the N-word and the C-word, the council decided Wednesday.<\/a> But my colleague Noah Goldberg reports that the council\u2019s decision to ban the words could be challenged in court, with some legal scholars saying it could violate speakers\u2019 1st Amendment free speech rights to curse out their elected officials.<\/p>\n \u2014 ZINE O\u2019 THE TIMES: <\/b>City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield <\/b>finally named his pick for the city\u2019s Charter Reform Commission: Dennis Zine<\/b>, who served on the council for 12 years, representing the same West Valley district as Blumenfield. Zine spent more than three decades as an officer with the LAPD while also serving on the board of the Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers, and should not be confused with progressive former Santa Monica mayor Denny Zane. <\/b><\/p>\n QUICK HITS<\/p>\n Stay in touch<\/p>\n 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 \n