Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Deletes Text Messages Over Palisades Fire While In Africa

A public information request for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ text messages when the Palisades fire first started in January was denied over the weekend as Mayor Bass was found to have deleted the messages during her time there.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the outlet requested all text messages to and from the mayor about the fires and her travel plans on for the days of January 7th and January 8th, when Bass was in Ghana, travelling back, and arriving back in L.A. However, the request, which was first made on January 10th, was denied earlier this month as Bass’ office informed them that there were no “responsive records” to give.

The matter was then raised with the city, who responded by saying that Bass deleted all text messages from that time.

“Her phone is set not to save text messages,” said Los Angeles city lawyer David Michaelson. “Bass’ phone has auto-deleted text messages for at least two years. The Mayor’s phone is set to not save text messages. It auto deletes.”

He was then questioned over the legality of this. According to the California Public Records Act (CPRA) of 2004, a record is “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics.” Any member of the public can request such a record. While there are privacy exemptions, most of the time they are given. And if they are denied, they have to say why.

However, Michaelson argued that the CPRA does not cover Bass’ text messages from January, even though Los Angeles city law requires most records to be kept for at least two years.

“CPRA is not a record-retaining statute,” added Michaelson. “There is no requirement that a city official or employee save text messages.”

The response from Bass’ office angered many over the weekend, especially since they did not give a specific reason for the denial as required and because her texts actually could have either proven or disproven her version of the wildfire response after first learning about the fires on January 7th.

Public suspicion over the deleted texts

“Bass has been hammered over her slow response from Ghana, attending parties there while she knew a part of the city was on fire. Everything about it,” explained former lobbyist Harry Schultz to the Globe on Monday. “She has said that going to Ghana was a mistake, but she has also tried to buck responsibility for her role in mismanaging the fires on everyone else.

“These deleted texts are just another reason for people to doubt her. Even if they were auto-deleted and she genuinely had no malice behind it, it still means that those records are gone and that it was incompetent of her to allow that. And that’s the best case scenario here. Worst case is that they were purposefully deleted.

“Now, those texts could have exonerated her somewhat of some of the blame here, especially if they showed her working closely with the city and her frantically saying she wanted to go home. Then again, her responses could have really hurt her too. But we don’t know what she texted. If other city employees kept the texts, maybe we’ll have a partial picture. But as it stands, nothing.

“Any way you look at this, it does not paint a pretty picture going forward.”

Before the fires, Bass demonstrated that wildfires striking the city were not high on her list of priorities. Last year, Bass led the movement to slash Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) for the 2024-2025 city budget. Originally aiming to cut $23 million, she managed to cut $17.5 million instead. Then, in early January, Bass was warned that very high Santa Ana winds were coming and was advised to stay in the city for the potential emergency. However, she instead carried on with her plans to travel to Accra, Ghana, where she was part of the U.S. delegation attending the inauguration of Ghana President John Mahama.

When the fires struck last month, then-President Joe Biden, Governor Gavin Newsom, numerous local officials, and fire crews were quick to bring in relief on the ground. But Mayor Bass, in Ghana, showed a much less limited response. While she did declare a state of emergency from Ghana, she stayed another day there despite the emergency. She eventually flew back to Los Angeles on January 8th. However, by the time she landed, the Mayor was the main target of criticism, with many saying she refused to go back to the city in its time of need, that her policies contributed to the chaos of the lack of water in fire hydrants to fight the blazes, and that her decision to cut LAFD funds removed vital resources from firefighters.

Bass’ mismanagement, as well as her attempts to scapegoat an LAFD fire chief, led to an official recall attempt to begin last week. The addition of the deleted texts over the weekend are likely going to help supporters of the recall because of the optics of the situation.

“Bass is hoping to quash this recall attempt, and this whole text situation just made it that much harder,” added Schultz. “Her best bet is to get employees to give their conversations with her that day from their texts to the media. But, they may not want this either, depending what is on those texts. Not giving anything like that? It makes you look like you have got something to hide.”