Nithya Raman must explain why she sent ‘Mansion Tax’ cash to dodgy foundation

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How can Nithya Raman run the city of LA if one of her pet projects is missing $87 million? That’s a question voters will be asking after the city attorney’s latest bombshell report.

The report says that the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA), which helps tenants fight eviction, cannot account for $87 million.

Raman’s role was to direct city funding to LAFLA, when she was chair of the City Council’s homelessness committee.

LAFLA is the kind of project that elite lefties love, because they can put fancy law degrees to use in what they consider to be a righteous cause.

No doubt some of the tenants deserve the best defense they can get. No doubt some of the landlords are unscrupulous. 

But many landlords are middle-class, mom-and-pop owners who rely on renting out an apartment in a duplex. If they can’t evict tenants who don’t pay the rent, they are the ones who face ruin.

Whether LAFLA’s cause is just or not, taxpayers aren’t getting their money’s worth.

Outgoing City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto says that between about one-third and one-half of LAFLA’s money that it received from the city and county from 2021 to 2025 is unaccounted for.

Making matters worse, LAFLA received huge amounts of money from Measure ULA, the so-called “mansion tax.” 

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That tax, passed by voters in 2022, didn’t just tax high-end real estate. It also taxed commercial real estate and apartment buildings.

As a result, housing construction has been slowing down. Measure ULA made “affordable housing” even more scarce in LA.

The revenue was supposed to go toward “affordable housing” — but it didn’t build homes. Instead, it was given to nonprofits like LAFLA.

Raman was among those members of the council who approved $177 million in Measure ULA spending — including $106.6 million for LAFLA.

At the time, some members of the council objected to funding groups that were actively suing the city — like LAFLA.

Why should taxpayers fund groups that try to force the city to pay even more money to the same groups?

It’s s vicious cycle, and Raman’s decisions have been at the center of it.

But whatever you try to hide from the public, you cannot hide from a spreadsheet.

The city is demanding that LAFLA come clean about its spending. And voters should ask Nithya Raman to explain why she seems to have thrown so much of their money away.