A casual advisor to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass dealt with communications for her workplace without spending a dime whereas concurrently engaged on a three-year contract with Los Angeles World Airports value almost $600,000.
Yusef Robb, who runs the agency tk/Communications, was an unpaid spokesperson and advisor for Bass from February by the start of June.
On June 19, Robb started working for Lineage Logistics, whose chilly meals storage facility in Boyle Heights burned for greater than per week final month. He continued to function an unpaid, unofficial advisor to the mayor, although now not as a spokesperson, till The Occasions and different shops reported on his work for Lineage on Saturday.
Robb stated the airport contract was unrelated to his work for the mayor. However a authorized professional stated the association raises questions on whether or not his free labor was a present to the mayor and whether or not working for the town and personal shoppers creates conflicts of curiosity.
“This was achieved by a clear and public aggressive bidding course of,” Robb stated in an e mail to The Occasions. “I present communications help and coaching.”
The Bass administration stated Robb’s unpaid help was “for the advantage of the town. It’s not a present.”
In 2024, Robb signed the contract with Los Angeles World Airports, or LAWA — the town division that operates Los Angeles Worldwide Airport and the Van Nuys Airport — for $450,000 over three years.
He gained the contract, which concerned “govt media coaching” in addition to “disaster communications,” over 10 different companies. It was up to date in April to incorporate further work for $137,500.
A report from LAWA in help of the contract replace stated that “govt administration at LAWA have benefited from profitable, skilled media coaching in addition to help for LAWA disaster communications and response.”
As a result of tk/Communications has subcontracted to a minimum of two different corporations, Robb stated his agency has earned not more than $315,000 over the three-year contract.
“There isn’t any connection between the work Mr. Robb performs for LAWA and the help he offers for Mayor Bass’ Workplace,” stated a spokesperson for Bass’ workplace. Bass is working for reelection in opposition to Metropolis Councilmember Nithya Raman.
The LAWA contract was Robb’s second with the town through the Bass administration. Town paid a complete of $75,000 in 2022 and 2023 to Robb’s agency to offer “numerous communications companies associated to the start-up of the administration,” in response to a contract.
Tk/Communications has labored for presidency companies in addition to political campaigns and personal companies, together with the Los Angeles Division of Transportation, the Los Angeles Unified College District and the music and leisure firm AEG, in response to the firm’s web site.
“We develop highly effective narratives and engagement to speed up and amplify our shoppers’ messages, whether or not they’re grounded in an funding proposal or a political marketing campaign,” the web site states. “We creator and inform tales that construct deep connections and lasting relationships that ship greater than you requested for.”
Robb has labored in and round Metropolis Corridor for many years. He was a press aide in Mayor Jim Hahn’s administration, then labored for Eric Garcetti when Garcetti was a metropolis council member after which mayor. He left Garcetti’s workplace in 2015.
Robb stated he has supplied “unpaid assist to all types of individuals and companies, to advance prison justice reform, set up group actions, or simply to seek out the proper phrases.”
“I really feel it’s essential to assist the town if I can,” he stated.
Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Legislation College and former president of the town’s Ethics Fee, stated the airport contract exhibits how invaluable Robb’s labor is, elevating the query of whether or not he’s offering a present to Bass by working for her without spending a dime.
One other concern for the general public, Levinson stated, is that Robb is working for Bass on the identical time that he has different shoppers and will doubtlessly use his place at Metropolis Corridor to advance these shoppers’ pursuits. His work for Bass might additionally make him extra fascinating for shoppers who imagine he has the mayor’s ear, she stated.
“What we’re nervous about is undue affect, preferential entry and backroom offers that profit sure folks, versus the general public,” stated Levinson. “We don’t need public officers serving two masters.”
Nonetheless, Levinson stated she doesn’t imagine that Bass has violated any legal guidelines through the use of Robb professional bono.
“That is an uncommon setup,” she stated. “That doesn’t imply it’s unlawful.”
