People's Budget Candidate Forum: Gina Viola                                          ...back >
QUESTION: Why are you the best candidate for Mayor?

VIOLA: I'm running for mayor of Los Angeles. And I believe I'm the best candidate running because I'm a longtime ally of many vulnerable communities here in Los Angeles. And that's who I want to take care of. I want to create a universe here in Los Angeles where shared prosperity and power. The long standing culture of political betrayal that we've been plagued by in this city has really been very detrimental to black, brown, red, yellow poor people in the city. And that is not changing anytime soon. Income inequality is at the highest levels it's been. Gentrification, you know, whites returning to the urban centers and deciding that it's time for black, brown and poor people to go; the banishment that we've seen of the houseless neighbors in our communities; the criminalization of poverty; the fact that we've spent, you know, the lion's share of our city's budget on law enforcement as a solution to our social problems—these things all combined have gotten us to where we are.

And all of the current mainstream—and I use that term loosely—but the mainstream mayoral candidates all want the status quo. They all want to see that exact plan continue. And I don't understand how that's going to yield any different results.


QUESTION: Candidate such as Karen Bass and Kevin de Leon would appear to have strong progressive credentials.

VIOLA: No, I think they are both career politicians unfortunately. Karen Bass was a community organizer many years ago, founded an incredible organization, CoCo. I have a lot of respect for what she did then. But she's been governing over Los Angeles for decades. And would you say that Los Angeles is in good shape? And it's the same for Kevin de Leon. Whether he's done it from a state assembly seat, or a city council seat, you know, he has been governing over the city, they both have for decades.


QUESTION: How are you getting your message out?

VIOLA: I will have a very wicked ground game. Part of what I'm going to be doing is partnering with folks running in different city council districts to go out as I did this morning, canvassing in those neighborhoods.  ...Going door knocking in the Valley with other candidates running. We went with Pilar Schaivo [candidate for State Assembly] Shervin [Aazami, candidate for Congress] and Kenneth Mejia and we were in the West Valley—the West Valley People's Alliance hosted us. So those are things I'm going to do. For example, I went to CD 13 last weekend with Albert Corado. And we went to inform renters that the ERAP program (Emergency Rental Assistance Program) would be coming to an end—folks only have 'til March 31st to apply for those funds—and also introduce ourselves as candidates. Next I'll be going with Eunisses [Henandez] for CD 1. We're going to do a joint canvass together on the 3rd.

But also we're not going to rely on just those things. I will be door knocking, I will be phone banking, but more importantly, I'm going to have a ferocious social media campaign. Ferocious social media campaign along with, I want to slate up with like minded candidates.

I am unapologetically running as an abolitionist. And there are several of us that feel the same way.


QUESTION: Abolitionist? Translate.

VIOLA: I believe we can live in a world free of police, free from law enforcement. I believe that when we have our basic needs met, that is public safety.

QUESTION: Major interactions I've had with police are for example, I parked my car for a rally and left the lights on and the battery ran out, and there was the sheriff...  Don't you want that?

VIOLA: Okay, you are a white man. That's a very different interaction that you get to have with the police, and I'm glad that they treat you well and jumpstart your car. They don't treat black, brown, poor, indigenous folks the same way.

QUESTION: I mean, that's a generalization but I'm not sure that that applies in every instance.

VIOLA: That's not a generalization, that's a fact. LAPD is the most murderous law enforcement agency in the country. I have been attending the LA Police, Board of Police Commissioner meetings for the last five years, every Tuesday. So everything I know about how the LAPD operates, I know from the LAPD. And it is a deeply, deeply racist, troubled organization.


QUESTION: Have you studied the L.A. budget in terms of what share the money goes to what?

VIOLA: Yes I have, and from this end of things. I was a member of the People's Budget Coalition for many years before I started running for mayor, so I definitely started breaking down the budget and studying it. And one of the, one of the amazing things I discovered is that almost every department has a line item for policing. So the police don't just have the lion's share of the city's operating budget; they also have a line item and every other department.


QUESTION: I believe you said ferocious social media campaign. What does that look like?

VIOLA: What does that look like? It looks like a very robust Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tik Tok—all of these newer ways to connect with voters. You know there's 29% of the City of LA doesn't vote anymore. They're disenfranchised. Why would they vote? No one has their interests at heart, at all. You know there's a huge wage gap in this city. People are priced out. Teachers can't live in this city. Heck a police commissioner said police officers can't afford to live in this city. So by his own admission, $60 an hour isn't enough to live in the City of Los Angeles. These folks have no reason to vote anymore. I intend to give them one.


QUESTION: How long have you been a candidate?

VIOLA: Since February 12th.  I filed on the last day.

QUESTION: Are you a better candidate now? Are you learning some things along the way?

VIOLA: I had to put out a lot of fires because I filed on the very last day. So the first fire was getting those signatures. And I will tell you that that process alone makes it very difficult to run for office, especially if you're a working person. The next fire is raising money. We have to raise a certain amount of money to unlock the city's match. So we've spent a lot of time putting out fires. I'm so fortunate that I finally have a campaign manager who's come on board. And tomorrow night we'll have our first very robust campaign meeting where lots of work will get divvied up because right now it's been on me and my husband and just very recently thank goodness my campaign manager.

QUESTION: What is the amount you have to get?

VIOLA: 64,200 must be raised in a very particular way to unlock the city's matching fund.
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Earlier in the day Gina Viola participated in a canvass...


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