Bass, Democratic supporters claim Caruso misleading voters about party loyalty, beliefs

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- There are only eight days left to vote for the next mayor of Los Angeles.

Karen Bass's campaign spent Monday accusing Rick Caruso of lying about his beliefs and telling lies about Bass.

"For us, to wake up 18 days prior to filing for office and think, I'm going to be a Democrat and I suddenly believe in those values of what the Democratic Party stands for - not today my friend," said Mark Gonzalez, chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.

"Rick Caruso is lying to Angelenos. He's wearing a mask of deception. He's been a Republican nearly his entire life supporting far-right extremists with millions of dollars," said Rep. Judy Chu, who has endorsed Bass.

At her Baldwin Hills campaign headquarters, Bass gathered supporters and elected officials on Halloween to do what they called, unmasking Rick Caruso, whom they believe will say he stands for one thing in order to get elected, but do the opposite in office.

"He shouldn't lie and that $100 million could have been better spent housing people. And to say that the reason why you should be the mayor is because you're a builder and you know how to build, please tell me why you've never built one unit of affordable housing nor did you ever allow affordable housing in the developments you have built," said Bass.

Caruso tells Eyewitness News his opponent won't be able to fix the problems that face Los Angeles because she's been in the system too long. Caruso believes it's going to take an outsider.

"I am a Democrat and I'm proud to be a Democrat," Caruso said. "Here's what troubles me: We have seen what bad speech, disrespectful speech, how it leads to very bad things. It's just not appropriate. Certainly not appropriate of leadership. So I really call into question this is the way we want to spend our last week."

"We have critical issues: Homelessness. We have people dying in the street. We don't need to have silly tricks with Halloween gimmicks on a press conference," said Caruso.

The LA County Democratic Party held that press conference with Bass whom they've endorsed. Bass was also endorsed by former President Barack Obama over the weekend.

Caruso says he's not worried about the establishment backing his opponent. He believes they're part of the problem.