Dodgers repay $400,000 salary paid from charity to Howard Sunkin

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One thing at a time, apparently.

That investigation by the California attorney general’s office into more than $400,000 paid to Howard Sunkin from the team’s charity continues, but the Dodgers said Tuesday as a first step they have repaid the salary to the Dodgers Dream Foundation.

Sunkin’s salary accounted for one-fourth of the foundation’s nearly $1.6-million budget in 2007. The New York Times first reported the salary, one it said was more in line for someone overseeing a $100-million charity.

Steve Soboroff, appointed Tuesday by Frank McCourt as a Dodgers vice chairman who will oversee their philanthropic organizations, apparently accidentally let it slip that Sunkin’s salary had been repaid when meeting with reporters.

‘Philanthropically, the Dodgers can leverage this incredible brand to help people all over Los Angeles,’ Soboroff said. ‘Frank has already started that. They’ve been doing a good job. Now they’ve had a hiccup, and now we’re going to look forward and just start and not have any more hiccups.’

Sunkin is now the Dodgers’ senior vice president of public affairs, a position that would seemingly overlap with Soboroff’s.

Soboroff has strong political connections throughout Los Angeles. His job description includes improving the fan experience at Dodger Stadium and strengthening ties to the region’s community and philanthropic organizations.

-- Steve Dilbeck