On September 3, a House Oversight subcommittee politely asked Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to sit before them and give testimony about alleged “waste, fraud and abuse” involving more than $1 billion in federal homelessness funding funneled through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

I made a prediction at the time:

The $64,000 question is: will she show? My guess is no — the mayor will conveniently find she’s scheduled to attend an important event in Ghana or something. If she does, however, you can bet I’ll plop down on the couch with a can of cold beverage and enjoy the show.

Turns out I’ll have to pop open my cold beverage on another occasion, because, of course, she’s going to be a no-show:

LOS ANGELES: According to her office, Mayor Karen Bass will not travel to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress after being called to appear over concerns about how federal homelessness funds have been spent in Los Angeles. 

Her office says Bass has a scheduling conflict and will not attend the Sept. 15 hearing. The city says it is cooperating with the congressional records request.

The letter gave no reason for her refusal to show up as requested and what was so important that she would thumb her nose at the committee:

The California Post obtained a copy of a letter the mayor’s team sent to the Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency shooting down its efforts to grill her in Washington, DC, over money given to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).

Bass’ legal counsel, David Michaelson, said “unfortunately the mayor is not available on that date,” in reference to the DOGE panel’s requested September 15 appearance.

“We have contacted the Subcommittee staff to discuss this issue,” the letter added.

It’s not clear why Bass can’t attend on that date, and her team did not give a reason in the letter.

Bass was famously out of the country attending a presidential inauguration in Ghana when the devastating LA wildfires started and went on to burn down entire neighborhoods in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu areas. She had been warned that conditions were ripe for a major conflagration; it was dry, hot, and massive winds were sweeping the region — the perfect combo.

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Wonder what she’s doing now instead of being transparent about the apparently epic level of fraud going down in the homeless industrial complex right under her nose?

The letter said she will, however, provide documents the committee requested, including specific communications between the mayor’s office, LAHSA, and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors going back to 2020. The Trump administration already pulled federal funding for the agency in June as the Department of Housing and Urban Development accused them of "obvious fraud" and "wanton mismanagement."

But inquiring minds want to know, Karen, straight from the horse’s mouth — where did all that money go?

Clearly, the only way to get her to show up is with a subpoena, and there’s no guarantee she’ll honor that either.

Many readers of these stories come to a natural conclusion: “Vote her out!” Unfortunately for Angelenos, the Democratic socialist running against her in November’s election, Councilwoman Nithya Raman (LA-4), is arguably even worse and is just as extreme as you’d expect a good DSA leader to be. She wanted to ban barbecues on days where the fire warning is high; although an alleged arsonist has been accused of starting the Palisades fire, Raman’s response was to attempt to punish regular, law-abiding citizens.

That tells you all you need to know about her.

The fact that Bass even got through the primary and has a good shot at winning reelection is insane considering her awful record on homelessness and her feckless response to the fires. 

Don’t look to her for answers, though: the only one you’ll likely get is, “Talk to the hand, because the face ain’t listening.”