Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton walked through Los Angeles’ Skid Row this week and called what he saw there not a natural disaster, but a man-made failure of government. “It is not a crisis. It’s actually a scandal. It’s a political scandal because the people in charge, they’ve caused this with their policies,” Hilton told Fox News Digital while touring the encampments.
The visit came as Fox News Digital documented sprawling tents, Narcan distribution points, human feces on sidewalks, and piles of ash from fires residents said were lit that morning to stay warm. Hilton is challenging Democrat Xavier Becerra in California’s Nov. 3 governor’s race, where homelessness and taxpayer spending have again become central issues.
The tour followed a sweeping federal drug raid in Skid Row on Thursday. Federal and local authorities, including the FBI, DEA and LAPD, arrested 23 of 28 defendants charged in a drug trafficking investigation targeting alleged gang-affiliated dealers and independent operators accused of selling fentanyl, methamphetamine and other drugs in the neighborhood.
Hilton Targets Nonprofits, Developers
Hilton accused government-funded nonprofits and real estate developers of profiting from the crisis without solving it. “We’ve got a small number of real estate developers who are in on this, and they get all the contracts to build these apartment units for people that don’t help them at all, because the other part of it isn’t being done in terms of drug addiction or whatever,” he said.
He went further, accusing nonprofits of having a financial incentive to keep the problem alive. “The point about these non-profits is that they’re part of this philosophy, the ideology of harm reduction, all the things we’ve talked about, which means that they are not actually trying to solve the problem,” Hilton said. “Because if they solve the problem, they don’t get paid anymore. So they have an incentive to keep it going.”
His comments echo a September case in which federal prosecutors charged the founder of a Los Angeles-area homelessness nonprofit with wire fraud, alleging he misused taxpayer funds — including nearly $50,000 for a trip to Tahiti — after receiving more than $118 million in public funding through government contracts.
‘Enforce the Law’
Hilton’s plan for the streets is simple, he says. “My plan is very simple. How we get clean streets in California. Number one, enforce the law, get people off the streets,” he said. He argued that letting the encampments stand harms everyone forced to live near them. “Letting people live like this, and not just the people who live like this, but all the people who aren’t living like this who have to experience this every single day. The collapse of civilized life in their city. It’s the opposite, it’s cruel.”
During the walk, one woman living on Skid Row for five years was candid about her drug use when Hilton asked if she wanted to quit. “I like being on drugs, but if I have to quit, then I most definitely will,” she said. She told Hilton she had moved to Los Angeles from Syracuse, New York, partly because she’d heard about the state’s methadone clinics, and said she was weighing a treatment program in Tarzana offering methadone twice a day.
Even Allies Turn on Bass
Criticism of Democratic leadership on Skid Row wasn’t limited to Republicans. Venus, a volunteer who distributes food in the neighborhood, blasted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass even as Bass joined law enforcement Thursday to announce the drug crackdown’s results. “We all loved her from the beginning, but she lied about the homeless,” Venus said. “What is going on, Mayor Bass? We voted for you.” She added that Bass “didn’t do her job” and had promised to get rid of homelessness but “never did nothing. Nothing, nothing at all. Shame on her.”
A man who identified himself as Adrian and described himself as a “patriotic American communist” and member of the American Communist Party also criticized the Democratic Party from the left. “Oh, definitely not,” he said when asked if California leaders were doing enough. “I have to be honest, I’m a leftist, and so the Democratic Party isn’t for me. I’m more left than they are.” Adrian said he’d been on Skid Row about a year after being evicted from a medical facility and now volunteers at the Skid Row Care Campus, which he credited with offering therapy and medical services. “It gives them better things to do than just do drugs all day,” he said.
Becerra Under Fire for Avoiding Debates
Hilton also went after Becerra directly, accusing the longtime California politician of ducking voters. “If you can’t be bothered to earn people’s vote, then you don’t deserve people’s votes. He’s not campaigning. He’s backing out of every single debate. I mean, I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s complete contempt for the voters and for California,” Hilton said.
Hilton, a former Fox News host, believes voter frustration over homelessness, taxes and cost of living could shift the race. “I know everyone says, well, it’s California, Republican can’t win. I don’t know. I think people are sick of all this,” he said. “And they’re sick of Becerra just taking them for granted, and I think we can win this election.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Becerra’s campaign and Bass’ office for comment.
