Los Angeles GOP mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt talked about taxes, crime, and safety in an interview Thursday on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, saying he sticks to “local, common-sense issues.”
“I only got into the race because nobody else was going to run,” Pratt said.
Pratt is running against two Democrats, current city Mayor Karen Bass and city council member Nithya Raman, to become the next Los Angeles mayor.
“[Bass] was just going to get four more years, so I had to step up,” Pratt said.
Pratt has called out Bass over her handling of drug addiction and homelessness in the city.
Pratt posted a video on Instagram on May 13, calling out what he named “Karen Basura’s park.” The word “Basura,” a derogatory nickname Pratt uses for Bass, means trash in Spanish.
The video showed a playground littered with trash, where Pratt claimed drug addicts came, and what looked to be a nearby homeless encampment.
“All of our tax money is going to the drug addicts,” he alleged.
Pratt said he is going to combat homeless drug addicts with a state law that calls for the removal of people from the streets to treatment facilities if they cannot care for themselves.
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“We’re going to look like Dubai in eight years,” he said.
He also said film crews can’t afford to film in the city.
“Everyone will want to produce and make projects in Los Angeles because it’s perfect when it’s a functioning, beautiful, safe city. But right now, it’s dangerous,” Pratt said.
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He claimed that film crews have to pay gang members to be protected on the street.
Pratt also emphasized the need for more funding for the fire department, which he says is operating at levels from the 1960s.
“We need to get our tax money back.”
He continued: “I’m like Robin Hood. I’m actually going to take the money that’s already being taxed by the rich; I’m going to make sure other rich people aren’t stealing it to increase problems.”
Above all, Pratt emphasized that safety, regardless of religion or identity, must be protected: “Everyone needs to feel safe in Los Angeles.”
“I made it very clear that I’m going to protect my Jewish friends and families that feel unsafe,” Pratt said. He continued, “I want a Muslim student to feel safe going to worship.”
On LGBT safety in Los Angeles, he said, “Whether you want to be trans and however you want to identify, if you’re 18-years-old in America, you should be able to do whatever you want if you don’t hurt other people.”
Before the segment ended, Pratt highlighted his campaign support across the nation and said he is going to win “the most Democratic votes in the history of LA.”
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“I’m the common-sense American with the basic expectations of our tax money.”
The LA mayoral primary election will be held June 2.