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michaelflutist's avatar

How have they been losing on messaging in regard to the L.A. fires?

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Zero Cool's avatar

They are losing because of conflicting information being spread around and are not doing an effective enough job combating that.

For starters, the timing was immediately off when LA Mayor Karen Bass was coming back from a trip in Ghana and didn’t even respond to reporters questions about the fires and her “absence.” Then there was information spread out by those in not in government like former Mayoral Candidate Rick Caruso who have been talking about lack of water in fire hydrants and not cleaning up brushes in the hills to prevent fires from spreading. Him and others threw out information right there and haven’t let up.

Then there’s also the City of LA Government which isn’t even in complete sync with Mayor Bass on this issue.

It’s a mess.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2025/01/08/theres-no-water-coming-out-of-the-fire-hydrants-billionaire-caruso-becomes-top-la-fires-critic/

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michaelflutist's avatar

I see. So this is local to L.A. Because Newsom has seemed from afar to have done his best in this situation. Yeah, it sounds like Bass has fumbled.

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Zero Cool's avatar

I don’t blame Newsom for this situation with the LA fires but on the other hand, as a statesman in this situation he’s not exactly impressed me. If Governor Jerry Brown was still around, he would have a no BS attitude and would pay more close attention to detail.

Bass isn’t aloof but she didn’t seem to be proactive early on in addressing the fire hazard problem in LA County. There are also reports that the fires were started in part because of acts of arson.

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