Since I’ve spent the first part of the afternoon snickering at California, let me begin the evening by continuing to wonder at the otherworldliness of it all.
The progressive bubble these people live in is so beyond comprehension to the rest of us simple, rational souls, and so beyond the pale in terms of our existence within a societal framework that demands accountability, results, and a certain level of competence on par with the remuneration for each of our particular stations in the workforce, that it’s entirely possible progressive elected officials and bureaucrats live in an alternate dimension.
We just haven’t figured out how they grift their always handsome livings from ours.
Once we do break that code, we can shut it all down.
In the meantime, we have to watch as success stories like this one play out and ignore the sick feeling in the pit of our stomachs.
The name Janisse Quiñones might or might not ring a bell. If it does, it’s because her portrait should, by all rights, be eternally hanging in the Hall of Incompetent Infamy were there ever such a place.
At the time of the devastating Pacific Palisades fire, Ms Quiñones was the ever-so-handsomely compensated (at a salary of three-quarters of a MILLION dollars a year) head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP).
This woman was in charge of all the water in Los Angeles County proper, which included the wet stuff that runs through fire hydrants into fire hoses when you need it, and the reservoirs that keep feeding more of the wet stuff to the hydrants so they don’t run dry.
As everyone now knows, and the firefighters in the middle of that Dantes Inferno maelstrom found out, the hydrants ran dry repeatedly.
Even as the hillsides were still smoldering, and angry residents at first wanted to hang the Los Angeles Fire Chief and her heroic firefighters, astonished fury soon turned to the higher-ups in city government. It was revealed that the reservoir, which was supposed to have replenished the hydrants as they drained and also maintained the gravity feed to keep pressure on the lines and water flowing, was dry as a bone in the hills above the smoking destruction.
Ms. Quiñones had no explanation for the lack of water. She couldn’t explain how a gravity feed worked.
…Before the first night was over, all of the hydrants serviced by three massive water tanks had run dry. The head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Janisse Quiñones admitted all the hydrants went dry and then swooped right into “To your question of climate resiliency…” Almost as if sidestepping having to answer WHY the hydrants ‘went dry.’
She had never informed the LAFD that there was no water in the reservoir.
They had drained it because of a ripped cover, and it holds potable water. LADWP then took a calculated, money-saving gamble not to refill the reservoir for fire season without a cover, because they would have had to drain it afterward and start from scratch once they had a new cover.
A reservoir in the Palisades that holds 117 million gallons of water was offline this month for previously scheduled maintenance. It was empty when the Palisades fire exploded. https://t.co/qLgNpFPwiu
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) January 10, 2025
There were also over 400 fire hydrants in desperate need of repair or replacement at the time of the fire.
The fire chief got fired.
Janisse Quiñones kept her job.
At least until yesterday, when she announced she was leaving her position (again, not fired, mind you), after a court ruling came down that could significantly impact LADWP and the City of Los Angeles.
A major legal setback for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) has been followed almost immediately by a leadership shakeup at the top of the agency, raising new questions about accountability inside one of the most powerful public utilities in the United States.
The development first surfaced publicly through a post by wildfire attorney Trey Robertson, who is serving as lead counsel for plaintiffs in litigation tied to the Palisades Fire. Robertson disclosed that a judge overseeing the case overruled LADWP’s demurrer to the plaintiffs’ Master Complaint, allowing the lawsuit to proceed.
The ruling is significant.
By rejecting LADWP’s attempt to dismiss the case at the pleading stage, the court determined that the claims laid out in the Master Complaint are legally sufficient to move forward. In practical terms, that means the litigation now advances into discovery, the phase where internal records, communications, engineering reports, and executive-level decision making can be examined under oath.
Robertson noted that the decision leaves LADWP potentially facing billions of dollars in liability if the allegations are ultimately proven.
Mayor Karen Bass haz a #sadz that her handpicked water chief is leaving.
Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement on Wednesday that Janisse Quiñones, the DWP’s top executive since 2024, brought “STEADY LEADERSHIP AND ENGINEERING EXPERTISE” to the utility.
The same Quiñones who quit her job hours after the city and state was found NOT IMMUNE from a $50… https://t.co/kPTJuCFIdz
— Jeremy Padawer (@JeremyCom) March 5, 2026
…The same Quiñones who quit her job hours after the city and state was found NOT IMMUNE from a $50 billion dollar potential liability… for burning a city to the ground.
This isn’t a joke.
… Steady leadership and engineering experience.
I can think of more appropriate quotes.
Here’s one. “They let us burn.”
Jeremy Padawer
http://PacificPalisades.com
So Janisse Quiñones is going to have to burnish her resume and load it on LinkedIn and Indeed like the rest of us common knuckledraggers would, right?
You know there’s no way – perish the thought.
She’s a female progressive. An elite. And a Puerto Rican.
Quiñones gets to go back and ruin that hellhole.
JUST THAT FAST
Not a half-bad gig either, for someone who helped burn out half the city and is so clueless, she couldn’t tell you how the water got from Point A to Point B.
...Janisse Quiñones will be leaving the $750,000 a year job to return home to Puerto Rico, where she will take on a leadership role on the island, “supporting the modernization and transformation” of its electric grid, Mayor Karen Bass’ office said.
…She is now homebound, where she will oversee her island’s electric grid, which remains in deep crisis—plagued by chronic outages, a 33% energy shortfall, aging oil-fired plants, nearly $9 billion in debt, and residents enduring far more blackouts than anywhere on the U.S. mainland nearly a decade after Hurricane Maria.
She should fit in great.
Spencer Pratt, fire victim, advocate, and now mayoral candidate, flames her hasty exit unmercifully, attributing it to the fact that their lawsuit will now go into the discovery phase, and all those emails, texts, and paperwork will come to light.
The corrupt chief of LADWP who drained our reservoir and left us to burn…is taking her $750K salary and is fleeing to Puerto Rico right after our lawsuit against her got the green light? Forget it, Janisse…it’s Chinatown. pic.twitter.com/uF1WQxeIO9
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) March 5, 2026
THIS IS CHINATOWN
But that’ll take forever and, as the head of Luma, she’ll be pulling in the cha-ching…
Luma $PWR (Puerto Rico transmission & distribution operator) has named the former head of LA Dept of Water & Power (LADWP), Janisse Quiñones, as CEO #muniland.
Yesterday Moody’s downgraded LADWP because a court has ruled that the utility & their ratepayers will be liable for… pic.twitter.com/rMuD7ETMMo
— Cate Long (@cate_long) March 5, 2026
…Yesterday Moody’s downgraded LADWP because a court has ruled that the utility & their ratepayers will be liable for damages sustained in the Palisades wildfires. Importantly LADWP does not have access to the California Wildfire Fund so ratepayers will have to should any payouts to those damaged in the fire.
Does Luma really think appointing her was a smart move?
…with whatever the traditional Puerto Rican ‘doing business our way’ cut is on top of it.
Failing upward.
Man, it’s something.
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