By admin 
LOS ANGELES (KABC) — There’s no love lost between once ally’s Nithya Raman and Karen Bass, coming face to face at the NBC4 and Telemundo 52 debate in the final three weeks of the Los Angeles mayor’s race.
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“We cannot afford another four years of decline, of mismanagement of excuses. homelessness is rising despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent. storefronts are closing. Our tax money is being wasted, and through it all, we’ve had a mayor who has been MIA,” said Raman.
“We are 640 days away from the greatest sporting event in U.S. history, and I believe that the city would be destabilized with someone who has extreme views and basically has not been able to build relationships, not on city council and not with her constituents. Now is not the time to turn the city over to Nithya Raman,” said Bass.
Painting Raman as too risky for Los Angeles and weak on public safety, Bass defended her signature homeless program Inside Safe, which Raman has called too expensive.
“It’s interesting that she has been the chair of the committee for a number of years, and every dollar that was spent on inside safe was approved by you. You had to receive reports regularly on inside safe…Your colleagues have a very difficult time working with you. As a matter of fact, we had to twist their arms to get them to even serve on the committee,” said Bass.
“My colleagues had no trouble putting me in leadership on the council, making me the chair of one of the most powerful committees before I decided to push back against a system that I saw was failing Los Angeles…You’re going to hear a lot of insults tonight, personal insults, because this mayor cannot defend the record of the last four years,” said Raman.
One of the most heated back and forth’s of the debate came when Raman was asked about this video, made by an influencer supporter, that her campaign took down after it referred to the LAPD, Chief Jim McDonnell and Bass as “fascist liars.”
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“We made an error, but it was an error. And I have never, I would never imply that this city is fascist or that this mayor is fascist or that our police chief is fascist,” said Raman.
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And then there was the Palisades Fire. Bass once again apologized for being out of the country.
“I am so profoundly sorry that I was not in my city, when my city needed me. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of the lives lost, the families that lost their homes,” said Bass.
“If there is another emergency, you will not have to ask if I am mayor where our mayor is. I will be on the front lines,” said Raman.
Raman was pressed on whether she would fire LAPD Chief McDonnell before the 2028 Olympics, before his contract is up in 2030, but we didn’t get a clear answer. Bass said getting rid of McDonnell before the Olympics would send the LAPD into disarray.
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