In the month following the apocalyptic Los Angeles firestorms, Rick Caruso has been everywhere: Real Time With Bill Maher, the Sam Harris and Joe Rogan podcasts, NBC News, CBS Mornings, every local TV affiliate—basically wherever there’s a microphone and a camera. It’s a national media blitz befitting a presidential campaign, but wink wink, Caruso doesn’t hold any political office. He wants to help Los Angeles rebuild, and he has little faith that the city, county, and state can do it without the private sector expertise he’s bringing to the recovery effort. “We’re past four weeks now, and very little has happened,” Caruso told me by phone this week. “It’s just unacceptable.”