LOS ANGELES — Out here we've got a saying: if you don't like the joke, don't call the number. Nithya Raman's campaign called the number, and now it's filed paperwork.
Raman, the city councilmember trying to unseat Mayor Karen Bass on Nov. 3, filed a complaint Sunday with the city Ethics Commission and the state Fair Political Practices Commission against Thrive LA, an outside group backing Bass. The California Post reported the complaint alleges five disclosure violations.
Here's what got under her collar. Thrive has been running ads for a fake company called "Nithya Raman Realty." One sign promises "We got A Tent to Give You!" Another shows Raman pointing toward an arrow marked "Designated Poop Zone," above the words "Coming to a Neighborhood Near You!" The group also hired a battered RV to cruise around town wearing her posters, which is the first campaign vehicle in Los Angeles history that blends right in with the parked ones.
Then there's the phone line. Call the number on the sign and an AI voice playing Raman asks you, according to the Los Angeles Times, "Would you prefer them outside your children's school, the library or right outside your home?" Them being tents. Back home, the worst robocall you get is about your car's extended warranty. In L.A. it's asking you to pick a spot for the campsite.
When the Times asked the bot whether it was really Raman, it answered, "I'm a fictional AI. I'm as imaginary as my campaign promises." That's the most honest thing anybody's said on a phone in this race, and it came from a machine.
Raman's campaign says the line is illegal because it clones her voice within 30 days of an election and, in recordings included in the complaint, wouldn't say who paid for it. Thrive executive director Ana Teresa Dahan called the complaint "false and absurd" and told the Post, "They wouldn't have known it was us if we hadn't put the disclosure." The Times said the bot did disclose Thrive as the sponsor when asked Monday. The Ethics Commission hasn't ruled.
Public filings show Thrive reported $53,800 in digital ads and $81,200 paid to a print vendor. Now, at my diner, $135,000 buys you the building, the grill and the waitress's retirement. In Los Angeles it buys you a few signs about poop and one used RV.
And here's the part folks are going to chew on. Raman says homelessness in her district dropped 49 percent this year. Meanwhile, the city's latest count showed unsheltered homelessness growing again after two years of decline under Bass. So we have a mayor's allies mocking the challenger's tents while the mayor's own tent count goes back up. That's like the fella whose barn burned down selling fire extinguishers door to door.
Meanwhile, the regular Angeleno is still stepping around the real encampment on the way to the bus, paying Los Angeles rent for the privilege, wondering which candidate's version of the sidewalk they'll get.
Nobody in this race has figured out how to get the tents off the street. But they've sure figured out how to put them on a billboard, a bus, an RV and a phone line. Out here we'd say they've got the sign painted and the poop zone marked. They just forgot to build the outhouse.
The Demorat is a satire publication. This article is a comedy roast built on real reported events; jokes, exaggerations and fictional characters are not real news.
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