INSIDE INGLEWOOD - Inglewood's mayor, James T. Butts, launched an unprovoked verbal attack on the publisher and editor-in-chief of a newspaper with which he has openly slandered a number of times.
At the August 21 Block Club Captains Meeting held at the Beat 3 I-COP community center on Manchester Boulevard near Crenshaw Boulevard, Butts was invited to speak about recent city developments. Instead, the mayor chose to attempt intimidating the residents in attendance to break the law regarding photography.
"He takes video of me and then cuts it up to…make unflattering images of me," Butts said. "I would ask that he not be allowed to do that."
The mayor's attempt to cow the crowd of captains failed unanimously. The video continued rolling, and the mayor launched into a tirade that included a laundry list of false accusations regarding the Forum, false alarms at city hall and the mayor's rumored marijuana dispensary card. ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZuf4x_RWT8 )
The following weekend, threatening telephone calls from an "unknown number" were left on the newspaper editor's voice mail.
Butts intimidation tactics appear to be his trademark.
He established his method when, at the July 20, 2010 Inglewood city council meeting, he walked behind the dais, put his hand on the city clerk and failed to restrain himself a number of times from shouting while in the audience. Butts was merely a new resident of Inglewood on that night and his mayoral prospects were being questioned. (The video of the incident may be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upxGQAMvvJw.) Butts corroborated his trademark behavior when on June 11 he interrupted a debate at which his candidate, George Dotson, failed to appear. Along with his candidate's campaign manager, Oliver T. Unaka, Butts was thrown out for his actions. (That incident may be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7J0toQiqBL4 .)
The night after Butts slandered the only independently owned newspaper in Inglewood—of which I must disclose I am the editor-in-chief—he was spotted driving slowly through the alley behind the building where a Thursday night block club meeting had just taken place. When spotted, the mayor sped away, stopped for several seconds, then quickly departed without exiting his vehicle.
That meeting, the monthly ABC Block Club Meeting, had featured Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta. In attendance was this newspaperman and the publisher of the newspaper the mayor has slandered more than once.
Calls to the mayor's office were not returned.
(Randall Fleming is a veteran journalist and magazine publisher. He has worked at and for the New York Post, the Brooklyn Spectator and the Los Feliz Ledger. He is currently editor-in-chief at the Morningside Park Chronicle, a monthly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com. Views expressed and/or conclusions reached by Mr. Fleming are his and do not necessarily reflect those of CityWatch.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 69
Pub: Aug 27, 2013