Recovery Czar Denies Accusation Mayor Bass "Lied" About Pay

To lie or not to lie about $5,556-a-day in pay, that is the question between Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Steve Soboroff, the city’s wildfire recovery czar.

Soboroff, L.A.’s chief recovery officer, told a crowd at Harvard-Westlake School last week he was “lied to” by the mayor, who promised he’d be paid $500,000 by philanthropies for three months’ work, the Los Angeles Times reported.

By Monday, he’d walked back his comments, saying he didn’t think that Bass had lied or intentionally misled him. “That was not what I feel and not what I meant,” he told the newspaper.

The developer and civic leader, facing an outcry over the city’s initial plan to pay him $500,000 over 90 days, later said he’d work for free.

Last month, Soboroff told reporters his salary would be covered by philanthropy. Bass, without disclosing the amount, agreed. Then after his pay was revealed, Soboroff was told by someone in the mayor’s office the foundations were hesitant to contribute to his salary, he said.

Soboroff then offered to work pro bono — but only after he concluded that the city lacked the funds, he said.

On Thursday at Harvard-Westlake, Soboroff said he found himself at a point where he had “no money” and “no contract,” according to a recording of his remarks reviewed by the Times.

“So then I found out that they really didn’t have the money,” he said. “And then I found out I really did have the [personal] bills.

“And so there was one of two things to do: Go public and quit, and say I was lied to — here’s my emails, here’s my texts, here’s all this s—,” he told the group. “Or tell them I’ll do it for free, and hope that it comes around later on.”

Asked about Soboroff’s accusation about being “lied to” by the mayor, Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl said the mayor’s office “refers you to his refutation.”

The wildfires driven by 80 mph winds last month burned more than 16,000 structures across Los Angeles County, including 6,800 homes, businesses and other buildings in the Pacific Palisades and Malibu.

Facing heat over her absence from the city and the fire response, Bass named Soboroff as her recovery czar on Jan. 17. But she and Soboroff haven’t always agreed, or even fully communicated, on L.A.’s strategy for bouncing back.

Last month, Bass suggested she’d cut back Soboroff’s duties, limiting them to rebuilding part of the Palisades. Soboroff disputed that his job had been trimmed.

Then his relationship with the mayor soured over his half-million-dollar salary — a topic he aired for the first time during the alumni forum at Harvard-Westlake in Holmby Hills titled “A Night With Steve Soboroff: Recovery From the LA Fires.”

Soboroff said he had turned down other work to take the czar job after spending much of his career doing civic work for free.

“I get called for a lot of civic stuff over the years, for 35 years, and never charged anybody anything. You try spending 35 years out of the middle of your life not charging anybody for anything, and sending five kids to Harvard-Westlake,” Soboroff said to laughter from the audience.

— Dana Bartholomew