Spencer Pratt told Bill Maher in an interview released Monday that he would enforce restrictions on smoking and drug use around children if elected Los Angeles mayor, making parks, schools, daycare centers, public safety and basic city services central to his pitch as the city’s mayoral race heads toward Tuesday’s primary.
Maher asked Pratt on the “Club Random” podcast whether he cared about all the issues facing the city, and Pratt said his priorities began with safety, lights and potholes before turning to smoking near children.
“I care about safety, the lights being on, potholes,” Pratt said. “I don’t want you smoking in front of kids at the park. You know, I’ll be enforcing if you’re smoking that in front of a kid at a swing. I’ll be getting you as mayor.”
Pratt then broadened the point to drug use near children in public spaces.
“No more drugs around kids at parks, in schools, in front of daycares,” Pratt said. “We need to have a society of consequences again.”
Pratt said smoking pot near children at a park was not something he viewed as normal when he was growing up.
“I never thought growing up I could smoke a blunt in front of a kid at the park,” Pratt said. “Now that happens. Moms do not want their kids that are like 5 years old.”
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Maher pressed Pratt on whether he would need to know more about issues such as solar power if elected mayor.
“No, Spencer, I got bad news,” Maher said. “If you’re the mayor, you are going to have to learn some of these issues more.”
Pratt said he would delegate some issues while focusing first on crime, homelessness and conditions on city streets.
“I don’t need to know about solar,” Pratt said. “I need to focus on making sure the moms are safe and the animals are not being abused. That’s my party.”
Pratt said solar policy was not at the top of his agenda.
“Solar panels. We’re about three years from worrying about solar panels,” Pratt said. “We need to get all the naked drug addicts off of the sidewalks, and then I can worry about solar panels.”
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Maher said Pratt’s appeal came partly from his willingness to speak bluntly about city problems.
“This is a state that is constantly overthinking everything and overregulating everything,” Maher said.
Maher also criticized California’s political imbalance and said one-party rule weakens accountability.
“Anytime any polity is ruled by one party, it’s not good,” Maher said. “Not even if you are a Democrat, you have to understand that it’s not good because you need the check on the other.”
Maher later warned Pratt that he would be confronting powerful interests if elected.
“Trust me, what you’re going to go up against is a state that is just full of special interests, all of which are very, very powerful,” Maher said. “I mean, you can’t do anything in this state without getting a license or an inspection.”
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California’s Department of Cannabis Control says cannabis may be used on private property but not in public places, and says people cannot smoke cannabis where tobacco smoking is illegal or within 1,000 feet of a school, daycare center or youth center while children are present.
Pratt’s campaign website described his bid as “not a campaign,” but “a mission,” and lists crisis leadership and government reform among his priorities.
The nonpartisan Los Angeles mayoral primary is scheduled for Tuesday, with voters choosing among Mayor Karen Bass, Spencer Pratt and other candidates in the city’s jungle primary system. The top two finishers, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to a runoff election later this year unless a candidate wins an outright majority of the vote in the first round.
