News/Commentary

Mayor busted for half million-dollar handout … and she still has her job

February 10, 2025 | | Print Article

New outrage was sparked involving the California wildfires prompting backpedaling from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) over a half a million-dollar handout.

For those expecting the once-Golden State would be endeavoring to polish up its act after gross mismanagement had proven a feature rather than a bug, the culture of carveouts appeared to have gone untouched by the devastation. While California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was slammed for begging for federal aid while approving $50 million toward illegal aliens, Bass was exposed as having promised $500,000 for a 90-day contract to her wildfire recovery czar.

Reported Saturday by the Los Angeles Times after the mayor had refused to disclose the sum that had been promised, it had been revealed that businessman Steve Soboroff, once a member of the Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners, was expected to get half a million dollars for a three-month stint, prompting Bass to announce a new arrangement.

“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 told the Times after word had gotten out. “We agree that we don’t need anything distracting from the recovery work we’re doing.”

Aiding in drawing attention to the shameless profiting, White House special envoy Ric Grenell shared the Times report and commented, “He’s getting paid $500,000 for 3 months of work? And they call this a charity. Gross. Offensive. I’m getting paid $0 — as are many people. It’s a good thing there will be strings on the Federal money for California.”

Grenell also tagged Soboroff’s son, Jacob, a political and national correspondent for NBC News, and asked in a separate post, “Will @MSNBC’s @jacobsoboroff cover this scandal?”

Following the exposure of the contract that had similarly saw fit to guarantee real estate executive Randy Johnson $250,000 before he also agreed to work for free, Soboroff had told the newspaper, “I’ve been doing this for 35 years for free on some of the biggest civic projects for the city of Los Angeles. But nobody ever asked me to drop everything. This time they did.”

“And I said OK, under the condition that my pay not be taken out of city money, or from any wildfire survivors who would otherwise benefit from that money,” he added arguing, “At the end of the day, I’m doing the stuff that all these other people are just studying. I’m implementing to help people reach their goals of getting back in their houses and getting their jobs back.”

The reversal on pay for wildfire recovery leadership followed another about-face from Bass who had been called out by President Donald Trump on restrictions preventing residents from cleaning out the debris from their properties.

After agreeing to open the Pacific Palisades back up to the public, City Councilmember Traci Park had joined local residents in voicing concern about crime and safety risks, leading Bass to reverse the decision and keep the area closed.

The situation had resulted in residents requiring police escorts to reach their own homes.

Among those outraged over the fact that Bass would even consider doling out “charitable funding” when so many were displaced from their homes, Pacific Palisades resident Steve Danton, living in a temporary apartment, referred to the situation as a “money grab” and told the Times LA had a “crisis of leadership” since the fires had started.

Kevin Haggerty
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