Discarded needles, drug paraphernalia and people sleeping on sidewalks provided a stark illustration of Los Angeles’ homelessness and drug crisis as Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton brought his campaign to MacArthur Park.
On Tuesday, Hilton toured the well-known park and nearby alleys while criticizing taxpayer-funded nonprofits that distribute clean drug supplies through so-called harm-reduction programs.
“This is your tax money at work… Free crack pipes and needles being handed out to drug addicts. CEOs of these so-called ‘nonprofits’ making millions a year. The smell, the squalor, the inhumanity. All of it is funded by you.”
Hilton said such programs risk extending addiction instead of helping people overcome it.
“They call it ‘harm reduction,’ but all it does is keep people addicted. I’ll end this madness.”
The troubled conditions around MacArthur Park were visible throughout Hilton’s visit.
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Video and photographs showed Hilton passing a woman asleep in an alley and speaking with reporters while another person slept on the sidewalk outside the park.
Hilton has previously said he witnessed “crack pipes, injection drug use, and people folded over on fentanyl in the middle of a sunny day.”
One video attracted attention online after viewers noticed a homeless man walking through the frame with his pants around his knees as Hilton discussed conditions in the area.
The political setting is notable: Los Angeles City Council has 15 seats, with no identified Republican members, and the city has not elected a Republican mayor since Richard Riordan’s victory in 1993.
California’s most recent Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, left office in January 2011.
Hilton also pointed to piles of trash and human feces, describing the conditions as both a “moral failure” and a “taxpayer-funded drug market.”
California voters will choose between Democrat Xavier Becerra and Hilton in the Nov. 3 election.
