Los Angeles wildfire czars $500K paycheck for 90 days of work draws swift blowback, mayor reverses course

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass backtracked on Saturday amid reports that her wildfire recovery czar, Steve Soboroff, would be compensated $500,000 for 90 days of work. The Los Angeles Times first reported Saturday morning that Soboroff, a real estate developer and longtime civic official, would be paid $500,000 over the course of three months for working as the city’s “chief recovery officer.” His compensation was to come from charity organizations, but Bass, who first tapped Soboroff for the job on Jan.17, quickly reversed course by Saturday evening.

She said Soboroff would now manage the rebuilding of the city free of charge. “Steve is always there for LA.I spoke to him today and asked him to modify his agreement and work for free.

He said yes,” Bass said, according to the Times.“We agree that we don’t need anything distracting from the recovery work we’re doing.”Another person, longtime real estate executive Randy Johnson, was to be compensated $250,000 from philanthropic groups for assisting Soboroff, but he too would now do the job for free, Bass said. On Johnson, Bass said she was “grateful for his generosity and expertise,” but the mayor’s office declined to name the charity organizations or clarify how the funding was raised, according to the Times. Los Angeles City Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, a member of the five-person committee tasked with recovery, told the Times it was “infuriating” that philanthropic groups would pay two people $750,000, calling the amount “obscene.” “He’s getting paid $500,000 for 3 months of work?” President Donald Trump’s envoy for special missions, Ric Grenell, wrote on X of Soboroff.

“And they call this a charity.Gross.

Offensive.” Grenell, who was seated next to Trump during a round table discussion in the Pacific Palisades last month, added: “I’m getting paid $0 – as are many people.It’s a good thing there will be strings on the Federal money for California.”...