Topline
Amid a flurry of largely right-wing backlash of California public officials’ handling of the deadly wildfires near Los Angeles, the billionaire Rick Caruso, who unsuccessfully ran as a Democrat for Los Angeles mayor, emerged as the most notable critic, tearing into his former opponent in L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and earning the support of the world’s richest man and GOP megadonor Elon Musk.
Billionaire Rick Caruso appears at a campaign event in 2022.
Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesKey Facts
A clip of Caruso calling into the Fox 11 Los Angeles television station late Tuesday went viral for Caruso’s pointed criticism of Bass and what he assessed as the city’s and county’s lack of preparation for the wildfires.
Caruso went after Bass for going on a planned diplomatic trip to Ghana, lamenting “we’ve got a mayor that’s out of the country, and we’ve got a city that’s burning” – Bass was en route to California on Wednesday, according to local news outlet KTLA, less than 24 hours after the fire ignited at about 10:30 a.m. PST in the Pacific Palisades.
In the same interview, Caruso tore down the logistics of the region’s fire prevention and fighting resources, saying “there’s no water coming out of the fire hydrants” due to what he claimed was an inadequately filled reservoir and overall “absolute mismanagement” of the city’s firefighting infrastructure, which Caruso likened to that of a “third-world country.”
Caruso chalked up the “failure” to “basic stuff,” including allegedly failing to remove the brush from hills overlooking the metropolis, which he claimed was the root cause of the severe outbreak of the fires amid dry, high-wind conditions.
Caruso, whose criticism differed from the likes of President-elect Donald Trump, who swiped at California Gov. Gavin Newsom for not greenlighting a fictitious “water restoration declaration,” led a band of local politicians critical of the city, including Traci Park, the city council member representing the neighborhoods worst hit by the fires, who told the Los Angeles Times she has “more questions than answers” on how what she called the “chronic under-investment” in infrastructure contributed to the fire’s severity.
See more of Forbes’ coverage on the Southern California wildfires here and here.
Contra
Los Angeles city officials addressed concerns about the fire hydrants at a Wednesday press conference. “A fire fight with multiple fire hydrants drawing water from the system for several hours is unsustainable,” Mark Fitzgerald, director of the county’s department of public works, told reporters, adding the high winds and low air visibility complicated the air delivery system of additional water. The county’s three million-gallon water tanks all ran out by 3 a.m. PST on Wednesday, added Janisse Quiñones, the chief executive of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Key Background
The shopping center empire at the heart of Caruso’s multibillion-dollar fortune was in the path of the wildfires, and Caruso told the Los Angeles Times there was damage to his Palisades Village development, one of the U.S.’ 15 biggest shopping centers by sales per square foot. Caruso said to the newspaper he evacuated his home Tuesday, while his daughter’s home was lost to the fire. Caruso lost to Bass in a 2022 runoff election for the mayorship, running as a more centrist candidate compared to Bass, who was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus during her time in Congress. Caruso was a registered Republican until 2019.
Crucial Quote
Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, added to the criticism of the city’s wildfires response. “Fires in LA are sadly no surprise, yet the Mayor cut LA Fire Department’s budget by $23M. And reports of empty fire hydrants raise serious questions. Competence matters…,” Soon-Shiong wrote on social media Wednesday. The billionaire appeared to refer to Bass’ $22.9 million proposed cut to the city fire department’s more than $800 million budget for the ongoing fiscal year.
What Has Musk Said About Caruso And The Fires?
Caruso is one of the few Democratic politicians to earn praise from Musk. Caruso is “extremely competent” compared to the “utterly incompetent” Bass, Musk bemoaned in a Wednesday post to his X social media network resharing Caruso’s appearance on Fox 11. Musk endorsed Caruso in his unsuccessful Democratic bid for Los Angeles mayor, support which notably came as Musk grew increasingly embedded in GOP politics. Musk’s $44 billion purchase of Twitter closed four months later, around the same time he supported voting Republican in the 2022 midterm elections.
Forbes Valuations
Musk’s $416 billion net worth is about $180 billion more than that of the next-richest human, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Caruso’s comparatively small $5.8 billion fortune makes him the 556th-wealthiest person in the world, according to our calculations. Caruso is one of the richest people to ever run for public office (Trump is worth $6 billion for comparison). Caruso’s billions stem from his Los Angeles area real estate dealings, while Musk’s come from his stakes in the several billion-dollar companies he leads, namely Tesla and SpaceX. Soon-Shiong is worth $5.7 billion, the 571st-largest fortune in the world stemming from the medical doctor’s development of the cancer drug Abraxane.
Further Reading
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