 |
LA PodcastAuthor: LA Podcast
A news and politics podcast for people who live in Los Angeles. Language: en Genres: News, News Commentary, Politics Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
Listen Now...
Make Every Vote County
Episode 324
Monday, 28 September, 2026
Alissa, Godfrey, and guest co-host Robert Greene dig into the minutiae of ongoing county governance reform and our upcoming ballot measure alphabet soup. A new poll turns the mayoral race on its head: Councilmember Nithya Raman is now leading Karen Bass by double digits. And does Los Angeles have a weak mayor… or is it just a weak city?LA Podcast can only publish on a weekly basis thanks to the support of our paid subscribers — thank you to the 10 folks who have recently joined us! Our goal is 100 new subscribers by Election Day to cover our costs and keep this show on the metaphorical road. Sign up today at lapodcast.org (more on our rebrand below!)The County Governance Reform Task Force — aka the executors of Measure G — has had a busy summer and so has Robert as he follows their efforts. As the editor of the aptly-named Los Angeles Rules, he explains the process of the new Ethics Commission nominations, the “why” for the new county legislative analyst position, and organizers’ concerns about potentially losing access to the Board of Supervisors, among many other developmentsJoin us tonight, Monday, September 28, to review LA Forward’s survey examining what Angelenos think and prioritize about the new county executive roleAfter that, later tonight, Godfrey and LAF’s Jason Enright will be teaching “How to Host a Ballot Party!”You’ll just need the official LA Forward voter guide — arriving the week of October 5 — to complete your shindig. It will explain city measures PRK (parks!) and LA (two-year budget cycles! CIP!!!), county measures A (arbitration!) and E (ethics, but also the former Measure J, it’s a whole thing), and so many more. Trust us, these measures are the life of any partyCouncilmember Nithya Raman and Mayor Karen Bass are about tied in campaign fundraising, but not in support: in a new poll, Raman now leads Bass by double digits (Bass crashed out and called the poll an “outlier” but her allies are a little nervous) Replying to the Bass campaign’s indignation, Berkeley IGS poll director Mark DiCamillo said: "What would you expect from a campaign down by double digits? They attack the poll”Adding fuel to the fire, the EAA (who recently welcomed city council aides to the union) and the WGA recently endorsed Raman On the other hand, Bass can take comfort that the LAPD union enthusiastically did not do that. (They had their own totally normal crash out over Raman’s plans to “embed a socialist regime in Los Angeles” with DSA, “the party of free sh**”)Is anyone thinking about the forlorn, abandoned Spencer Pratt voters? Whomever will they cast their ballot for this November?In the end, how much does this even matter? No LA mayor can cut through red tape like Mayor “200,000 Potholes Filled” Mamdani because we’re a weak-mayor city, right? Not quite: Jim Newton refutes this popular-with-pundits take for L.A. MaterialOr as Robert put it earlier this year: even a strong mayor can't overcome a weak city We’ve rebranded! You’ll now find us at lapodcast.org (where, once again, you can become a paid subscriber to help us keep helping you digest all that’s happening around our city)And the stars have aligned under this beautiful harvest full moon to usher in a social media bonanza. We’re now on YouTube! Bluesky! LinkedIn! Threads! So many platforms and so many exclamation points.Subscribe and follow and stay tuned for fun content and other general LA Podcast excitement. There’s lots in store. (And of course, we remain on Instagram) Thanks to Kristen Torres for producing and Bianca Cockrell for digital producingThe reporting and analysis you hear in the show is put together by our rotating cast of producers and co-hosts every week. All opinions expressed on the show are solely those of co-hosts and may not represent the views of LA ForwardAlissa Walker writes the newsletter Torched, tracking LA’s megaevent progress. Find her at @awalkerinla on Instagram and @awalkerinla.bsky.social on BlueskyGodfrey Plata is the deputy director of LA Forward and is @godfreyplata on InstagramRobert Greene is an independent Los Angeles-based reporter and 2026-27 John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation fellow. He is the editor of Los Angeles Rules, a publication about city and county government reform
