The Fair Political Practices Commission has confirmed it is looking into allegations of conflicts of interest and possible disclosure violations on the part of Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts.
The first controversy involves a $100 million contract that Inglewood gave to trash hauler Consolidated Disposal Services in 2012 while Butts’ brother Michael was employed by the company. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has already concluded that Butts did not financially benefit from the deal when he voted to approve it and, therefore, no laws were broken. But reporting by the Daily Breeze revealed that the mayor was leasing a home to his brother for $1,600 per month at the time which Butts apparently failed to disclose.
The second issue on the radar of the FPPC is $150,000 in outstanding loans Butts made to the campaign of Inglewood Councilman George Dotson. He is being accused of failing to disclose the status of repayments from those contributions.
"It is hard to conceive of a local elected official making such large loans without receiving any form of repayment for such a long period of time," said resident and Butts critic David Turner, whose complaint prompted the FPPC investigation. "These outstanding loans raise the question of whether Mr. Dotson's obligation to Mr. Butts has colored his official actions in voting with Mayor Butts on most of the major issues facing the City over the course of the last five years."
The FPPC probe isn’t the only cloud hanging over Mayor Butts’ head. The mayor is facing harsh criticism and a series of legal challenges related to a land deal for the new Clippers arena. An exorbitant salary for a former campaign worker turned assistant to the mayor has also raised eyebrows. As if that wasn't enough, the mayor was recently denounced for telling a community activist to go choke herself.
Read more about the ongoing controversies and the FPPC’s investigation here.