Daijiworld Media Network - Washington
Washington, Oct 18: Indian-American Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman is facing two late-stage challenges in her bid for the city’s top post, with City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto demanding a full audit of a nonprofit linked to an eviction-defence programme she championed, while incumbent Mayor Karen Bass has accused her of being unfamiliar with the city’s Black community.
In an October 9 “Supplemental Report in the Public Interest”, Feldstein Soto said that between USD 55 million and USD 87 million in funds provided by the city and county to the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) remained unaccounted for in publicly available information for the 2021-2025 period.
The report said the nonprofit’s tax returns “suggest that the money may well have been used for other purposes, most notably to fund litigation against the very City that provided the funds”.
“The City’s interests requires a complete audit of and accounting from LAFLA of all of these amounts,” the report said.
The contract began in 2021 as a USD 7 million pilot programme awarded without a competitive bidding process and subsequently expanded to more than USD 90 million. The range of USD 55 million to USD 87 million first appeared in a report issued on July 2.
The report does not name Raman and does not allege that she mishandled any funds.
The California Post, in reports carried by the New York Post, has described the programme as Raman’s “signature” initiative. It reported that she voted in March for a tenant-protection package that included USD 106.6 million for LAFLA.
LAFLA has rejected the allegations. In an August 10 letter to the City Council responding to earlier reports by the City Attorney, the nonprofit’s board said the reports did not make any specific allegations of financial impropriety or misuse of funds.
The board said it was “aware of no misspent funds, nor any other impropriety related to LAFLA’s administration of SHLA”, referring to the Stay Housed LA programme.
Barbara Schultz, LAFLA’s director of housing justice, has also described the claims as “inaccurate and misleading”, according to the Post.
Feldstein Soto finished third in the June 2 city attorney primary with 17.99 per cent of the vote and is not contesting the November election.
Raman’s campaign did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.
Meanwhile, Bass has questioned Raman’s familiarity with Los Angeles, particularly its Black community, following a remark made during a debate about the city’s past approach to immigration enforcement, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Speaking to Black community leaders at her campaign headquarters on October 15, Bass criticised Raman over her statement that Los Angeles “used to be the gold standard in terms of noncooperation with immigration enforcement years ago, under the era of Daryl Gates”.
“My opponent is not really familiar with L.A., especially the Black community,” Bass said. “She doesn’t know us.”
Raman said she was referring to Special Order 40, issued by then-Police Chief Daryl Gates in 1979, and described Gates as “an abhorrent and racist police chief”.
“Now Mayor Bass is deliberately twisting my words to distract from the questions she is refusing to answer,” Raman said in a statement.
A Berkeley IGS/Los Angeles Times poll conducted from September 15 to 20 showed Raman leading Bass by 39 per cent to 28 per cent, with around one-third of voters undecided.
Raman would become the first Indian-American mayor of Los Angeles if elected. The mayoral election is scheduled for November 3.