Stupid is as stupid does

LA County Just Paid Its CEO a $2 Million Dollar Settlement Because Voters Hurt Her Feelings

Last November, Measure G was passed by LA County voters. Measure G required voter approval for the position of County CEO. Apparently, being subject to voter approval was too much for the appointed LA County CEO, Fesia Davenport. The CEO is in charge of the county budget, but Davenport had other priorities as well. According to her BIO, her tasks and priorities included: 

“...maintaining labor relations with the County’s 64 bargaining units, managing enterprise administrative operations of the County’s 38 departments, and ensuring the successful implementation of key priorities of the Board of Supervisors, including sustainability, poverty alleviation, addressing homelessness, and supporting anti-racism, diversity and inclusion.”

Appointed to her position in 2021, in the spring of 2025, Davenport wrote a letter to County Counsel. She wanted out, and she wanted a bag of cash.  

“Measure G is an unprecedented event, and has had, and will continue to have, an unprecedented impact on my professional reputation, health, career, income, and retirement,” CEO Fesia Davenport wrote to county counsel Dawyn Harrison in a letter obtained by the Times. “My hope is that after setting aside the amount of my ask, that there can be a true focus on what the real issues are here - measure G has irrevocably changed my life, my professional career, economic outlook, and plans for the future.” 

Apparently, Davenport was demanding her own "poverty alleviation." And, the county rolled. It just paid her $2,000,000. The details of the settlement required her and the county to keep the reasons for the settlement confidential, but her letter to County Counsel makes it pretty clear. Fesia's "feels” were hurt by the supervisors and the voters. And, I think, she wanted out before the house came crashing down around her.  

….

This week, she headed for the door without an explanation to the staff, with a figurative bag of money in hand, and a “good luck” wave to the supervisors of an almost bankrupt county. Although Davenport seemed distressed by the near bankruptcy of the county, she wasn't so distressed to ask for, and receive two million dollars because Measure G “changed” her life, her "professional career, economic outlook, and plans for the future.” 

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