Wildfire disaster proves why ‘competence’, not party, matters in choosing leaders: LA Times owner

Los Angeles Times owner dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong hit out at American voters with an “I told you so” about their elected leaders’ response to the LA-area wildfires.

Blaming the competence of local officials, Soon-Shiong posted on X that their handling of the crisis proves exactly why voters should not elect leaders along party lines.

“Perhaps the lesson learned from this disaster in California is that we now vote not on the basis of left or right or D vs. R, but perhaps on competence or lack of experience doing the job!!” entrepreneur wrote from his account on Thursday.

“We have to choose based on competencies… yes, competencies are important,” he added.

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Soon-Shiong has garnered a lot of attention in recent months for highlighting the follies of partisanship in American politics. His view motivated him to order his paper not to endorse a candidate for the 2024 presidential election—a move that upset the media’s staff and audience, which is liberal.

The owner also announced the creation of a new, more impartial editorial board for the Times, among other moves he proposed to ensure it does not become “an echo of one side”.

Soon-Shiong said the paper aims to “in the middle of the roadreliable source of news.”

Proprietor’s focus on nonpartisanship has found its way into his recent criticisms of California and Los Angeles leaders, where he pointed out that the wildfire disaster proves that getting caught up in electing leaders based on their political affiliation is a distraction from knowing whether they can handle crises.

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Soon-Shiong made his belief clear earlier this week that Democratic leaders in the country are incompetent.

In a statement on Wednesday, UX said, “Our hearts go out to those who have lost their homes and are seeking shelter. The fires in LA are unfortunately no surprise, but the mayor has cut the budget of the LA Fire Department by $23 million. And reports of empty fire hydrants hydranata raise serious questions about competences…”

Although Bass’ original budget proposal sought to cut $23 million, city officials cut LAFD funding by $17 million last year.

In a subsequent post on Thursday, he wrote that the “‘bogus’ evacuation alert today for all of LA County is yet another example” of the incompetence of California leaders.

Soon-Shiong appeared to be referring to a false mass evacuation alert for all of Los Angeles County sent out shortly before 4pm PT on Thursday that was quickly withdrawn.

A follow-up alert was sent to county residents that read, “Disregard the last EVACUATION WARNING. It was for the Kenneth Fire only,” referring to residents living near Calabasas and Agoura Hills – near the site of the Kenneth fire.

A local official attributed the false evacuation order to a “technical error”.

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