Dodgers have taken deferring money to a new stratosphere after concerning report

Wednesday marked the first anniversary of the start of the Eaton and Palisades fires that devastated Los Angeles and a large swath of Southern California. A staggering 70% of residents are still displaced a year later.

The Dodgers responded quickly to the disaster. Chris Taylor, Freddie Freeman, and Shohei Ohtani all made individual donations to first responders, and the organization opened up Dodger Stadium as a relief center for displaced families.

However, that initial response from the team was imperfect. They made a donation in conjunction with other LA sports organizations, amounting to $667,000 in their individual contribution. But Dodgers owner Mark Walter quickly signed on to Governor Gavin Newsom's "LA Rises" iniative, pledging $100 million.

We're a year out now. Newsom's initiative has raised just $20 million not just front Walter but a host of other philathropists. Walter's contributions have numbered just $7.8 million.

So, where's the rest of the money?

Dodgers president Stan Kasten said, "I know we haven’t spent the full 100 yet, but this is a long-term commitment." Per Bill Shaikin of the LA Times, "Kasten did not rule out Walter shifting some or all of his remaining funding commitment to an organization outside LA Rises."

So the Dodgers are ... deferring emergency relief funds. And may never deliver them at all.

Dodgers owner Mark Walter has failed to deliver more than $90 million promised to emergency wildfire relief

Casey Rogers of Telea Insight, a consulting firm that "advises philanthropists and leaders of nonprofit organizations," said of the slow delivery of funds, "If it's a number of 20 million after one year, after such a severe occurrence, and with Los Angeles having the giving capacity to meet that goal, I would have expected to hear that there had been more commitments, at a minimum."

While it's true that wildfires will always be a danger in the Los Angeles area, and another incident could prompt Walter to make another lump sum donation, the full amount he's promised could've been used to help the 70% of residents who are still displaced, or could've been directed toward preventative operations.

Surely this is also at least somewhat the fault of Newsom, who could exert public or private pressure on Walter to come through with more of the pledged funds, but it's really not a good look for Walter or, by extension, the Dodgers, who are already inviting even more political scrutiny with their planned return to the White House.