Joe Rogan Experience #2268 - Rick Caruso

(drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience.

Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night, all day. (instrumental music plays) Good to see you, sir.

Thanks for having me.

My pleasure.

Great to be here.

Thanks for being here. Uh, it is a, uh, terrible time for Los Angeles.

Yup.

And, uh, unfortunately, uh, you did not win. I wanted you to win.

Thank you.

I was rooting for you.

Thank you.

Uh, it's just, the politics in LA are, it's- it's almost like watching people who are in a cult, who are being confronted by the cult experts who are telling them, "Hey, this is all crazy and fake, and you're- you're ruining your life." And they're like, "No, no, no, I think it's gonna work out." (laughs)

(laughs) Yeah. Well, there's a lot of things that aren't working out.

Yeah.

There's a lot of things that are. I mean, listen, I know like you, being, spending time and living in LA, it's an amazing city.

It's amazing.

And when I ran for office, as much as I loved LA, I actually fell in love with it more because I got to see places that I wouldn't normally see. And so it was really amazing, and people, and the diversity and the dear-ness of so many neighborhoods and people. But what's happened to LA over the last decade is just tragic, and people are paying huge consequences for it and, um, it's sad to watch.

So, if you get to the heart of it, like if you did, if you won and you became the mayor of LA, what could you do to try to turn this battleship around? 'Cause it's a big battleship.

It's a big battleship and people will argue that the mayor of LA doesn't have a lot of authority, like other mayors. Um, you know, I learned a lot, Joe. I worked for three mayors. I worked for Tom Bradley when I was in my mid-20s as a commissioner. I was the head of Department of Water and Power. I worked for Dick Riordan. He brought me back into head of DWP during the energy crisis. Uh, the department was under a lot of financial strain. And then I worked for Jim Hahn, who brought me in to turn around LAPD and I was the police commissioner, the head of the Police Commission. So I've seen really good leadership. Um, and honestly what we've had in the last two mayors is not good leadership and we're paying a price for it. So you may not have a lot of power, but actually, I think the most powerful thing you can have that I learned as a police commissioner, if you're not worried about getting reelected or reappointed, it's really amazing what can happen.

(laughs)

'Cause you can make decisions that are actually in the best interest of the people and I believe that career politicians are always worried about getting reelected. They are scared to death of getting a real job. They've never had to sign the front of a check, only the back, so it's very difficult for them to even think about being out of office, so they just circulate. You know, they go from the city council to the state assembly to the state senate, and we end up with the same sort of look and feel of leadership, which is pretty weak. Um, I think Dick Riordan was a good example of a guy who came in and did a lot of great stuff. I actually think Jimmy Hahn did a lot of great stuff, uh, as mayor. So I would go in there with some strong leadership. I would certainly go in there and reach across the aisle and find common ground and all of those things you need to do to move forward, but I would certainly plant some really strong goals that everybody knew we were working f- working towards 'cause, you know, I believe that you either lead, follow, or get out of the way. And I really admire people who lead, and, um, I wouldn't mind being a little bit controversial if it's in the interest of doing what's in the best interest of the residents.