CommentsNEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts dodged criminal prosecution in 2013 when the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office declared it wasn’t illegal for him to ask companies competing for a lucrative city trash contract to hire his unemployed brother. (Photo above: Inglewood Mayor Butts.)
Even though one of those companies indeed hired Michael Butts to a $72,000-a-year job and then was awarded the city refuse hauling contract, prosecutors said the mayor committed no criminal wrongdoing because he had not personally benefited from the arrangement.
But newly uncovered documents suggest James Butts did gain financially from his brother’s job at Consolidated Disposal Services, which was selected by the City Council even though it was not the low bidder on the contract. Bankruptcy records filed by Michael Butts revealed he paid $1,600 a month — about a quarter of his monthly paycheck — to his brother for rent on a home on Shenandoah Avenue in Los Angeles. (Read the rest.)
-cw
