Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declined to answer Tuesday when asked why the city had chosen Hagerty Consulting behind closed doors to manage the recovery from the recent Palisades Fire — or what, precisely, Hagerty would do.
As Breitbart News has reported, the city hired the consulting firm in a secretive process. The amount and terms of the contract have yet to be revealed to the public. Hagerty was hired despite two former consultants for the firm recently pleading guilty to defrauding New York City of federal relief funds during the Hurricane Sandy disaster recovery.
Breitbart News asked Mayor Bass at a press conference Tuesday, held to mark the start of debris removal in the Pacific Palisades, about the Hagerty contract — and, specifically, why it was chosen behind closed doors, especially in light of the criminal charges former consultants had faced.
Bass replied:
Hagerty is a world-renowned disaster recovery firm that has a long track record in the State of California. … The county and the city are aligned with Hagerty. And so they will do the overall project management. We are confident in their ability to get the job done. They have a proven track record in the state of California; they have a proven track record with the county. They will be working hand-in-glove with our local government to make sure that we get the job done. And they are beginning in the next few days.
Mayor Bass did not provide any further information about the contract or why a consulting firm was necessary.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
