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Is this a joke? At a recent encampment sweep Mayor Karen Bass promised to “make sure” an unhoused man with missing teeth would get dental care, a comment that local reporting captured and which has since exploded into a larger debate about what services taxpayers should be forced to fund. Voters deserve to know whether this was a compassionate offhand remark about connecting people to services or the opening salvo in a costly new entitlement for active drug users.
Conservative readers are rightly outraged that the same politicians who preach fiscal responsibility when it comes to ordinary families suddenly treat public coffers as an open tab for every social ill. Right-leaning outlets and commentators have been blunt in their framing, calling out plans to provide dental work to those clearly engaged in substance abuse as emblematic of California’s priorities gone awry. This isn’t compassion — it’s policy by PR, and it risks rewarding destructive behavior.
To be fair about context, Mayor Bass’s Inside Safe program has focused on moving many people off the street into interim housing and linking them to services, which can include basic medical care and case management as part of getting people stabilized. But the program’s outcomes are mixed, and critics on both sides ask whether expensive, open-ended services actually lead to sobriety and sustained independence. The public needs clarity on what “services” mean and how they’ll be paid for before the mayor asks taxpayers to foot bigger bills.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles faces a real public-safety crisis: federal raids and arrests tied to fentanyl and meth in downtown areas have underscored how open-air drug markets imperil neighborhoods and businesses. When elected officials prioritize cosmetic fixes or taxpayer-funded dentistry over law enforcement and treatment-first policies that require accountability, they betray the residents who pay the bills and want safe streets. Taxpayer dollars should not be a blank check while violent crime and open drug dealing spiral.
Conservatives don’t oppose helping the truly vulnerable, but help must be structured: treatment must be tied to sobriety, services must have measurable outcomes, and budgets must be accountable to taxpayers. That means prioritizing enforcement against dealers, mandating treatment for repeat offenders, and funding transitional programs that move people into work and responsibility rather than permanent dependency. If the Bass administration truly cares about restoring dignity, it will stop chasing headlines and start demanding real results.
As Los Angeles heads into a bruising mayoral season, voters should remember which leaders defend hardworking families and which pander to headlines with expensive feel-good schemes. Californians are tired of watching cities be hollowed out while elected officials experiment with taxpayer-funded band-aids for problems rooted in lawlessness and addiction. It’s time to elect leaders who will put public safety, fiscal responsibility, and genuine recovery before theatrical policy gestures.
