When an attack ad is a love letter

Good morning, it’s Tuesday, May 12 and you can expect cooler temperatures than Monday, topping off in the low 70s in the afternoon.

In politics, there are attack ads that viciously assail an opponent.

Then there is the 30-second ad released over the weekend by the L.A. County Federation of Labor, a powerful coalition of 300 unions that has vowed to use every tool at its disposal to support the reelection of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

The ad ostensibly combats reality TV star Spencer Pratt’s candidacy for mayor.

“Pratt opposes using taxpayer money to build brand new houses for our unhoused neighbors, saying ‘It’s time for the homeless to get help or get out,’” declares the ad as it shows images of new townhomes and apartment buildings.

Pratt wants “thousands” of additional LAPD officers “rather than more social workers,” says the spot, which ends by noting Pratt wants public employee unions to have “less power, not more.”

“L.A. is on the right track and needs to stay the course. Vote ‘No’ on Republican Spencer Pratt,” said the ad.

Neither “Trump” nor “MAGA” — the usual go-tos for slamming a right-wing opponent in deep blue Los Angeles — are uttered. Pratt’s agenda is instead framed in measured terms; the ad notes he is a Republican but opens and closes with an image of him next to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, known as a more sober, business-friendly conservative.

Hasan Piker, the left-wing streamer and influencer, said on X: “you can’t convince me that this isn’t designed in a way to boost pratt. i’m sorry there are a million better ways to frame his insanely [right-wing] positions (sic).”

Political strategists agreed, telling L.A. Material that the powerful (and well-financed) labor federation appeared to be trying to help Bass by elevating Pratt — because the mayor would rather face him in the general election than Councilmember Nithya Raman.

“It’s an old trick,” said Mike Murphy, a co-director of USC’s Dornsife Center for the Political Future and a longtime political consultant. “It’s a message designed to boost Pratt with right-of-center voters, particularly conservative and independents, to help them beat Nithya.”

Murphy noted that two-thirds of L.A.’s deep blue electorate would agree with or otherwise pay no mind to the ad. 

“But the third that Pratt needs to pass Raman is exactly who this ad is trying to target,” Murphy said. “They are literally trying to help Pratt.” (During the last debate, Raman took flak for arguing that Bass and Pratt were teaming up to thwart her because “they want to run against each other.”)

The strategy deployed by the labor federation is the same one that Sen. Adam Schiff, the new Democratic Senator from Los Angeles, effectively wielded in the 2024 California Senate race.

Battling against two Democrats — Katie Porter and Barbara Lee, then both members of Congress — Schiff was well aware that a Democrat-versus-Democrat runoff on the November ballot would have been expensive and bruising.

So Schiff's campaign and its allies made a strategic gamble: They sought to boost former Dodgers star Steve Garvey, a Republican, pouring millions into statewide ads comparing him to President Trump. Garvey himself was barely bothering to campaign, and Schiff's "too conservative for California" ads juiced Garvey's support among Republicans. Garvey made it through the primary, and Schiff handily beat him in  November with a nearly 18-point margin, avoiding months of crushingly expensive intra-party warfare.

“It’s a little clever by half. It’s very cynical. But I do believe it will help Pratt,” Murphy, who has also advised Rick Caruso, said of the “anti” Pratt ad. 

But the playbook of choosing to elevate a more extreme opponent can also backfire.  

Back in 2016, many Democrats thought Donald Trump would be the easier candidate for Hillary Clinton to defeat in a general election. That didn’t work out as Democrats planned, to put it mildly.

Kristal Romero, a spokesperson for the labor federation, declined to answer questions about the group's intended tactics, saying: "Spencer Pratt's half-baked ideas are harmful to working-class Angelenos and our city's most vulnerable residents. It's important that voters in Los Angeles are reminded of the dangers of electing another inexperienced reality TV star."

The response was a far sharper attack on Pratt than the ad itself.

HOW TRAXX RUNS: In the latest installment of The Receipts — L.A. Material’s series where restaurants open their books — the partners behind the only sit-down dining option in Union Station explain why the pesto pasta is their least profitable item and Dodger home games are good for business.

DEBATE CANCELLED: This Wednesday was supposed to feature another debate among the L.A. mayoral candidates. But after Mayor Karen Bass pulled out over the weekend and Councilmember Nithya Raman followed suit on Monday, organizers cancelled the event altogether.

CHINA INFLUENCE: Eileen Wang, the  mayor of Arcadia — a San Gabriel Valley city with a large Chinese and Chinese-American population — agreed to plead guilty Monday to acting as an illegal foreign agent of China. 

INSIDE BALDONI VS. LIVELY: The lead attorney representing actress Blake Lively in her battle against actor and producer Justin Baldoni sat for an extended interview with Puck’s Matt Belloni, in which he explained why his side settled and also claimed victory in the legal dispute. 

MUSIC MAVENS: Meet La-La Records, the Burbank-based label that is “a niche of a niche of a niche” in the music business, as one of its founders put it. The company pores over movie studio archives and composers’ collections to hunt down old music — like every track from the first six “Friday the 13th” movies — and republishes it. The New York Times profiled the company, saying La-La “defies modern-day music-biz wisdom.” 

ROSE BOWL REVAMP: The L.A. Times’ Sam Farmer went deep on the $30 million renovation to Pasadena’s Rose Bowl, which includes converting 5,000 bench seats into a 1,000-person VIP club at the field level. 

HEALTHCARE INC.: California’s economy — battered by losses in the entertainment industry and other high-paying professions — has been buoyed by growth in health and social assistance jobs, according to data from March 2022 to March 2026 examined by a bipartisan think tank. 

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “The Other Life” by Raymond Carver.

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