They say lightning doesn’t strike twice, but Malibu knows better.
In just seven years, another wildfire scorched through the region, this time gutting areas that had barely escaped the wrath of Woolsey. But the flames weren’t the only thing making a comeback.
Adding insult to injury, Reva Feldman, the former Malibu city manager whose disastrous handling of the Woolsey Fire cemented her infamy, is now entangled in yet another fire related scandal. This time, it’s the misappropriation of FireAid funding meant to go to those directly impacted by the Palisades and Eaton Fires. Instead, the money was quietly funneled to a nonprofit hundreds of miles away, where Feldman just happens to sit on the board.
“After the Fire”, a non-profit based in Sonoma, sounds like a noble cause, but when you dig beneath the branding, the organization reveals itself as a buzzword factory, spewing phrases like “coaching,” “collaborating,” “multigenerational power building,” and “civic engagement.” What it doesn’t do is provide direct relief to fire victims, which is exactly what FireAid donors were told their money would support.
And yet “After the Fire” got a chunk of the FireAid windfall, despite operating hundreds of miles from the neighborhoods obliterated by the January firestorms.
It’s a bait-and-switch flagged by Congressman Kevin Kiley, who issued a scathing letter to Attorney General Pamela Bondi this week demanding an investigation.
In his words, groups like “After the Fire” have “a tenuous connection (at best) to fire relief and recovery.”
The letter also sharply criticizes the diversion of funds from intended victims, warning that this disconnect between solicitation and disbursement may violate donor intent, and calls for a federal investigation into where the money actually went, and who benefited.
REVA RESURFACES IN YET ANOTHER FIRE RELATED SCANDAL
Feldman’s tenure in Malibu was marred by public outcry over her handling of the 2018 Woolsey Fire, failure to advocate for Malibu during crisis evacuations, and controversial city hall conduct that ultimately forced her resignation. Her departure came with a hefty payout, funded by taxpayers, and a separation agreement that avoided further scrutiny of her performance.
Now, Feldman resurfaces in yet another fire-related scandal, this time tied to a nonprofit that benefited from a highly publicized disaster relief fund. Coincidence? Unlikely, given her track record of leveraging tragedy for personal gain and profiting off disaster at the expense of the very community she was entrusted to serve.
It’s unclear what role Feldman played in securing funds for After the Fire. What is clear, however, is that the organization is among the nonprofits Congressman Kiley now says need to be scrutinized for misalignment with the original purpose of the FireAid campaign.
COMPLICIT OR CLUELESS?
The Annenberg Foundation has remained silent as the FireAid scandal erupts into a firestorm of controversy.
But the facts demand answers.
Who chose the grantees? Who reviewed their qualifications? And why were groups like “After the Fire”, based far outside the disaster zone, deemed worthy of donation dollars, while families in Pacific Palisades, Topanga, and Malibu were denied assistance?
Taxpayers and donors didn’t shell out to fund a networking nonprofit in wine country. They gave with the expectation that their money would go to the victims of the January firestorms, not disappear into a boardroom full of buzzwords masquerading as disaster relief.
The people deserve transparency, not just from the nonprofits, but from the Annenberg Foundation itself, which has yet to explain why groups like “After the Fire’, with no direct connection to the affected areas, were given a seat at the table.
And if Reva Feldman thought no one would notice her fingerprints on this fire fund fiasco, she clearly underestimated those of us who never stop watching where political corruption leads next.
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