Exclusive | Cops fear secret Nithya Raman plot for Los Angeles after she becomes mayor: ‘Wolves masquerading as sheep’

Nithya Raman has refused to say whether she’ll embrace the radical agenda of the Democratic Socialists of America if elected Los Angeles mayor — as the city’s cops’ union warns she and her radical backers want to push their policies from City Hall.

Tom Saggau, spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Protective League which represents 8,700 LAPD officers, doubled down on Raman’s hidden agenda, alleging she’d pledged to ”co-govern” with the DSA-LA, which is why they’ve endorsed her.

“They are wolves masquerading as sheep, skilled at misinformation and distraction. Make no mistake, they are playing a long game designed to embed a socialist regime in Los Angeles,” Saggau said. “She and her socialist supporters want to talk about anything and everything except the actual policy demands listed on the socialist’s website.”

Last week, The California Post sent questions asking Raman’s campaign to confirm whether she would continue to adhere to 16 policy proposals from the DSA-LA, which include cutting police funding, closing jails and further decriminalizing drug use.

A follow-up email was sent Thursday, but Raman’s campaign did not respond, despite LA voters casting their ballots in just over six weeks in an election against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.

The DSA-LA also wants to replace police officers with unarmed workers for some duties, including traffic enforcement and mental health calls.

The group also opposes the city’s anti-camping rule prohibiting homeless encampments within 500 feet of schools, a stance Raman has drawn harsh criticism for supporting as a city councilmember.

Its other key policy commitments include a call to “expropriate privately owned housing,” and expand the public ownership of businesses and services, including publicly owned grocery stores and internet service.

DSA-LA wants to make public transport free, introduce universal rent control and impose a “vacancy tax” on landlords who leave units empty.

The group also wants to restrict short-term rentals and expand voting rights in local elections to non-citizen residents.

Raman has maintained close ties with the DSA throughout her political career, with the organization endorsing her first City Council campaign, which saw her elected in 2020, and describing her as a dues-paying member in its voter guide.

The group also backed her successful reelection in 2024 and is supporting her run for mayor.

In May, Raman backpedaled from her former “defund the police” rhetoric in an interview with CNN, before refusing to directly answer a question about her position on the subject only days later.

Just this week, she also voted “no” this week on $100,000 in funding that would pay for the LAPD to participate in the Joint Regional Intelligence Center, which helps federal and local agencies share and analyze information about terrorism and other criminal threats.

She also voted “yes” on a council measure to grant $320,000 in federal funds for LAPD recruit de-escalation training, which would teach 450 would-be cops about strategic withdrawal techniques and use-of-force rules.

Meanwhile, the LAPPL said voters have been horrified when presented with DSA-LA’s policies in a series of focus groups organized by the union.

Saggau said most participants “knew little” about the DSA or its policies before the sessions, which included four groups of eight to 10 people.

“We wrote DSA policy demands directly from their website,” Saggau said.

The DSA-LA’s property provisions — including the call to “expropriate privately owned housing” — triggered some of the strongest reactions.

“Once people figure ‘expropriate’ means they could lose their house, everything gets real,” Saggau said.
He said some participants in Armenian and Jewish focus groups “had visceral reactions” to the policy because their grandparents and great-grandparents saw their properties seized by the government.

City Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents much of LA’s Westside, told The Post she ran for office in part after watching her predecessor, Mike Bonin, support defunding the police.

Bonin embraced several policies aligned with DSA-LA’s agenda and often joined Raman in pushing them, including efforts to cut LAPD hiring, redirect police money to unarmed response programs and oppose the city’s anti-camping law.

“The DSA has already proven they will make our city unlivable,” Park said. “That must serve as cautionary tale for voters headed to the polls in November.”

Susan Collins, who helped lead a recall effort against Raman after she was first elected, said DSA-backed policies can pressure property owners without the government directly seizing their property.

“They’re legislating people out of their homes and commercial properties,” Collins told The Post, pointing to regulations affecting landlords and brick-and-mortar businesses.

DSA-LA’s pledge to roll back portions of Los Angeles Municipal Code 41.18, which restricts sitting, lying, sleeping and storing belongings in designated public spaces, also rattled the focus groups.

“To a person, they don’t understand her position on 41.18,” Saggau said of Raman.

Nico Ruderman, a sitting Venice Neighborhood Council member who helped lead the recall effort against former Councilman Mike Bonin, said Westside residents have already experienced policies he believes are similar to those advocated by DSA-LA.

“We lived through the DSA playbook and the policies it brought to the Westside,” Ruderman told The Post. “We watched the chaos it brought to our neighborhoods and our children’s schools.”

Ruderman pointed to encampments near schools during Bonin’s tenure, including an overdose death, RV explosion, discarded needles and open drug use.

“Nithya Raman follows the same philosophy,” he said, pointing to Raman’s opposition to a blanket 500-foot anti-camping buffer around schools and daycare centers.

Ruderman also pointed to DSA-LA’s push for what the organization calls “co-governance” between its members and socialist elected officials. DSA-LA documents describe formal strategy meetings between chapter leaders and council members around policy campaigns.

“Mike Bonin gave us the Westside version of these policies,” Ruderman said. “Raman and DSA want to take them to the mayor’s office.”

“Let’s call co-governing what it really means,” he added. “Taking political marching orders from DSA while making city policy.”

The LAPPL is preparing to make the DSA’s agenda a major focus of the mayor’s race, which is heating up ahead of the Nov. 3 election between Raman and Bass.

The union has released a twelve-page voter guide boiling down DSA-LA’s agenda to five issues involving private housing, businesses, homeless encampments, police and drugs.

“These are the ones that stood out,” Saggau said. “It’s tough when you’ve got a whole bag full of crazy to pull five things out.”

Saggau — whose union this week released an ad blasting Raman’s stance on homeless encampments — said upcoming digital ads will feature homeowners and a longtime family business owner confronting the organization’s property provisions.

“What do you mean my family built this business and they can just take it?” Saggau recalled the owner reacting during filming. Saggau also attacked the DSA’s push for expanded publicly funded programs.

“There’s not a tax they don’t embrace. They are the party of free sh**. Somebody has to pay for that,” he said.

The DSA-LA did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

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