Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass confessed to making another wrong decision amid public fury, reversing her controversial plan to compensate wildfire officials with questionable salaries.
At a Glance
- Los Angeles Mayor reversed decision to pay Steve Soboroff $500,000 for 90 days of wildfire recovery work.
- Soboroff and Randy Johnson to work unpaid after backlash over proposed compensation.
- The mayor’s office didn’t disclose the charity organizations or fundraising methods.
- The controversy marked the second recent reversal by Mayor Bass following public criticism.
The Reversal
Mayor Karen Bass faced intense public backlash over her plan to pay Steve Soboroff, designated as the “chief recovery officer,” a hefty $500,000 for 90 days of work on Los Angeles wildfire recovery efforts. Unyielding public scrutiny forced Bass’s hand, causing her to announce Soboroff would undertake his recovery role without pay. The initial arrangement proposed compensating Soboroff with funds raised by unnamed charities to avoid drawing from city coffers or wildfire survivors.
The plan included a proposed payment of $250,000 for Randy Johnson, Soboroff’s assistant, eliciting significant public displeasure. Soboroff, a real estate executive and civic leader, defended the proposed compensation, emphasizing his invaluable expertise in the recovery effort.
Faced with fierce criticism over her chief wildfire recovery officer’s planned salary of $500,000 for 90 days of work, Mayor Karen Bass reversed course Saturday evening and said Steve Soboroff would receive no compensation
w @DavidZahniser @dakotacdsmithhttps://t.co/cZb3OeqFX8
— Julia Wick (@sherlyholmes) February 9, 2025
Public Backlash
The melted-down plan evoked vehement criticism from various quarters. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez labeled the proposed pay “obscene,” echoing broad discontent among residents and public figures over the ethics of profiting from disaster recovery efforts. Former Trump envoy Ric Grenell added his voice to the fête of critics, expressing, “He’s getting paid $500,000 for 3 months of work? And they call this a charity. Gross. Offensive.”
This sharp criticism threatened to undermine the mayor’s recovery efforts, prompting Bass to reassess and ultimately reverse her decision to salvage the city’s recovery operation credibility.
Leadership and Transparency Concerns
The wildfire-related salaries stirred already brewing tensions within Los Angeles. Residents of fire-devastated Pacific Palisades voiced concerns about a lack of transparency and wavering leadership. This incident marks Mayor Bass’s second significant policy retraction in response to an outraged public and serves as further evidence of her tenuous grip on effective governance during such crises.
Soboroff has been commended for his dedication to Los Angeles through various volunteer roles; he highlighted that his past volunteer work was leveraged in support of significant civic projects. This time, however, the stakes demanded funds from external sources — an arrangement that became a flashpoint in this unraveling saga.
