Proponents Named in Los Angeles Mayor Recall Filings Include Residents of Fire-Impacted, Crime-Ridden Neighborhoods

The mayor’s reelection campaign calls the recall effort a ‘MAGA distraction.’

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks during a fire emergency briefing at Station 69 in Pacific Palisades, a neighborhood of Los Angeles, on Jan. 24, 2025. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

LOS ANGELES—Organizers behind an effort to recall Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have chosen as the face of their campaign five individuals who, at least nominally, represent main flashpoints in a swelling backlash to her tenure in the wake of a wildfire that obliterated parts of the city in January.

The Notice of Intent, filed March 11, lists Gelena Wasserman, Heather Hilterbrand, Sarah Peterson, Susan Collins, and Jonathan Garciaramirez as committee proponents sponsoring the recall petition.

Wasserman, Hilterbrand, and Peterson are residents who saw their homes either destroyed or damaged in the Pacific Palisades fire, organizers told The Epoch Times. Collins is a resident of a fire-risk area who is concerned about current leadership, they said, while Garciaramirez lives near MacArthur Park, an epicenter of the city’s crime, homelessness, and drug crises.

Hilterbrand, who lost her home in the Palisades fire, has been an outspoken critic of Democratic leadership both at the state and local levels.

“As past President of the Pacific Palisades Republican Club, I can promise you that we will end the career of the Governor who destroyed our children’s childhood during Covid and now let our homes burn down,” Hilterbrand said in a statement on X last month, tagging both Gov. Gavin Newsom and Bass.

“We are coming for you. Resign now or we will end your careers—your choice,” she wrote.

An emailed inquiry to Hilterbrand was not returned in time for publication. Organizers said they would make proponents available for media interviews later in the recall process.

Bass has faced mounting criticism since wildfires broke out in early January, laying waste to the Pacific Palisades, an upscale coastal enclave on the city’s westside.

The Notice of Intent lists as reasons for the recall Bass’s decision to leave the city for a diplomatic trip to Ghana on behalf of the Biden Administration, despite clear red flag warnings before the disaster—as well as crime, the entrenched homeless crisis, and failing city services.

The recall campaign’s website criticized Bass’s signature Inside Safe program, which spent $67 million in its first year to place 255 people in permanent housing, and noted a spike in violent crime on the city’s transit system.

The mayor has energetically fended off criticism in recent months, noting progress on fire recovery efforts and dismissing LAFD Chief Kristen Crowley late last month for both failing to prepare for the fires and to warn Bass of the risks before she left the country.

The mayor has also undertaken targeted improvements in places that to some residents symbolize the worst of the city’s policy failures.

In a March 11 press conference, the mayor pointed to progress over the past month in cleaning up McArthur Park, an area between Westlake and Koreatown, just west of Downtown Los Angeles, long notorious for gang violence, high overdose and homicide rates.

In recent years, the situation at McArthur Park has further deteriorated as Bass and city councilmembers declined to enforce public anti-camping laws, and former District Attorney George Gascón stopped prosecuting most misdemeanors, including drug crimes. Police working in the area told The Epoch Times they could do little to intervene in the rampant, open-air drug scene that took hold there.

Bass reported at the press conference that violent crime in the area is down 57 percent in the last five weeks, following a surge of police presence, as well as gang intervention, community outreach, and cleanup efforts.

“This is not something that can be solved overnight, but with our sustained, comprehensive approach,” Bass said, “I know that we can return the beautiful McArthur Park back to the families who deserve to be there safely.”

The recall campaign, which has more than $1 million in seed funding, primarily from Silicon Valley philanthropist and former Robert F. Kennedy Jr. running mate Nicole Shanahan, will need to collect more than 300,000 signatures to advance.

Shanahan on Mar. 4 reposted a video on X from the official recall, which has since been deleted, with the statement, “Los Angeles has endured enough. Once a city of hope, it’s now overrun with crime, chaos and suffering,” she wrote, calling a recall of the mayor “the first step” in reviving the city.

City paperwork filed on March 3 and first reported by the Los Angeles Times, shows Sahil Nandawi, a real estate agent active in conservative politics as the principal officer of the recall’s fundraising committee; Gerald Sirotnek, a political strategist and executive director of San Diego County’s Republican Party, filed the Notice of Intent.

A Republican-led recall effort in deeply blue Los Angeles is seen as an uphill battle, but organizers said the recall is a bipartisan effort by ordinary Angelenos—with two registered Democrats, two Republicans, and one Independent among the proponents.

They also have more than $1 million to start with, which means they can pay people to collect and contribute signatures, rather than relying on volunteers.

“Follow the money—this is another right-wing, MAGA distraction,” Doug Herman, a strategist with the mayor’s reelection campaign said in an email to The Epoch Times. “We’re going to stay laser-focused on rebuilding and other critical issues facing communities across LA.”

Herman noted unsheltered homelessness dropped by more than 10 percent in the city of Los Angeles during Bass’s tenure, as have homicides, by more than 25 percent since 2022.

Meanwhile, just last week, an independent audit reported the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority (LAHSA), a joint body of the city and county, has mismanaged billions spent on homelessness, making it virtually impossible to verify whether services were provided. In particular, auditors said it was impossible to verify how or if $2.3 billion related to city programs was actually spent, alleging a system plagued by inconsistencies, lack of transparency, and meaningful oversight.

The recall campaign’s progress can be tracked on the city clerk’s website. After filing the Notice of Intent, proponents have 14 days to publish it before it can be approved for circulation.