Letters to the Editor: Welcome Rick Caruso to the abortion rights fight with open arms

Los Angeles Times Opinion
·2 min read
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Businessman Rick Caruso waves at the start of a mayoral debate at Student Union Theater on the Cal State LA campus on May 1, 2022. (Photo by Ringo Chiu / For The Times)
Businessman Rick Caruso waves at the start of a mayoral debate at Cal State Los Angeles on Sunday. (Ringo Chiu / For The Times)

To the editor: I support Planned Parenthood, but its political advocacy arm erred when it castigated L.A. mayoral candidate Rick Caruso for aiding anti-choice politicians in the past, despite his full support for choice now and for Gov. Gavin Newsom's effort to secure abortion rights in the state Constitution.

Like Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Caruso is a former Republican. Like President Biden, who also once opposed abortion, Caruso is Catholic. I also recall Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) maligning Planned Parenthood as part of the "establishment."

The Times editorial board endorsed Kenneth Mejia for city controller despite his having been a "lock Hillary up" Jill Stein voter who claimed Biden was a "rapist." If Mejia's past doesn't matter to some people, why does Caruso's?

As for other mayoral hopefuls, City Councilman Kevin de León was close to a #MeToo mess, Rep. Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) accepted an extremely generous scholarship from scandal-plagued USC, and City Atty. Mike Feuer's office included an extortion schemer.

Changing hearts and minds will be necessary to secure reproductive freedom. Instead of scolding those who once opposed abortion but have evolved to a robust, pro-choice position, we should welcome them to the fight.

Jo Perry, Studio City

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To the editor: It’s becoming almost embarrassing to see The Times contorting itself to find phantom examples of why Caruso should not be mayor.

From what I gathered from your article, Caruso says he's pro-choice, but he once gave to a super PAC supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich when he was running for president, and 15 years ago he gave $4,300 to a committee supporting Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). Are we to believe that his motives were based solely upon the recipients' stance on Roe vs. Wade?

I was expecting this article to expose the true smoking gun that would finally put the nail in the coffin of Caruso's run for mayor.

Rumor has it that at a meeting regarding the development of one of his shopping centers, a lieutenant in his organization recommended aborting the project in its second trimester, but Caruso overrode his recommendation, proving once again that he is against abortion.

Fred Gober, Playa Vista

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.