A dispute between embattled L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and Chief Recovery Officer Steve Soboroff burst into public view on Monday, when a recording emerged of a meeting in which Soboroff said she had “lied” to him about his salary.
Soboroff, whom Bass appointed for 90 days in the aftermath of the fires, agreed earlier this month to work for free after it emerged that he was going to be paid $500,000 by private philanthropy, and controversy had ensued.
But as the Los Angeles Times reported, Soboroff felt he had been misled, telling an alumni meeting at the elite Harvard-Westlake preparatory school that he felt deceived — though he later walked back his comments:
Steve Soboroff, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ wildfire recovery czar, went public with his frustrations about doing the job for free, telling an audience he was “lied to” — and had the texts and emails to back it up.
The remarks, made to an alumni group at Harvard-Westlake School last week, came as Soboroff attempted to address what he called “the elephant in the room”: the city’s initial plan to pay him $500,000 over 90 days, and his subsequent decision to work without pay after an outcry over the size of his compensation.
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By Monday, Soboroff changed course, telling The Times he did not think that the mayor had lied or intentionally misled him.
Rumors of the spat had been circulating for days before the Times story came out.
The story adds to a sense that Mayor Bass, who fired L.A. Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley last week, is not managing the situation well.
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.
