INSIDE INGLEWOOD-Former top Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official John Beale is set to be sentenced for a laundry list of outrageous lies that include being a CIA agent, being overseas and being a Vietnam veteran who contracted malaria during the war.
In Inglewood, Mayor James T. Butts has claimed to possess FBI clearance, to being an Inglewood resident who lives in a small guest house behind his in-law's house and to having made command decisions during a recent hostage situation at which he was not present.
Beale and Butts are among the highest paid in their respective positions, and both have claimed to reside in the guest rooms of nearby neighbors despite their exorbitant salaries.
The only truth is that both were remarkably highly paid while they lived in guest houses.
While Beale's story is of national interest and has exploded thusly, Butts' story is one that has developed over the last four years but has remained consistently, curiously unresolved.
Butts, whose mayoral run in 2010 was rife with controversy, was allowed to become mayor despite an unresolved matter regarding his voter registration and residency.
He remains under investigation for his alleged voter registration address being falsified.
According to records filed at the L.A. County Registrar/Recorder's office, Butts claims to reside at 2512 102nd Street, Inglewood CA 90303. A deed to the house and property, filed at the L.A. County Recorder's Office, states that it is owned by Cora and James Rawls.
Butts signed a voter registration that declares, "It is a felony If you sign this statement even though you know it is untrue; you can be fined or imprisoned for up to three years."
However, recent events have clearly implied he does not reside at the house owned by the Rawls on 102nd Street.
Butts receives two pensions that total nearly $500,00 annually and is paid nearly $117,000 annually as mayor of Inglewood.
The single piece of evidence Butts has proffered is a torn piece of paper handwritten by Butts regarding Butts Inglewood residence. The paper is said by Butts to be incontrovertible evidence to his timely residence in Inglewood in time for his mayoral run in 2010. It has no date stamp from the county registrar-recorder and was said to have been hand-delivered by butts to the county clerk in Norwalk on a Saturday. The county clerk is closed on all Saturdays.
Reached for comment vie e-mail regarding Butts' residence in Los Angeles, L.A. County District Attorney stated through Jean Guccione (Director of Communications), "The Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office declines to comment."
Other related incidents appears to indicate the mayor's pen chance for misrepresenting the truth.
The mayor claimed to have been involved with command decisions at the November 27 hostage situation that took place at 10709 S. 5th Avenue in Inglewood—just five blocks from the mayor's alleged residence at the corner of 102nd Street and 4th Avenue.
"Suspects watch TV and I didn't want to tip them off about the next move," Butts said in response to a story written about his apparent absence from the 10-hour hostage ordeal. He claimed to have been in the command post within 20 minutes of the incident occurring and that he was there all day "monitoring" the situation.
However, one of the top L.A. County Sheriff's Department personnel on the scene that day, Lt. Dave Dolson, appeared to imply that Butts was not present at the scene. "I had no contact with the Inglewood mayor, James T. Butts, during the incident. It was a purely a police matter."
The mayor appears to have a historical problem with being questioned about his apparent misrepresentations of truth.
At the Inglewood city council meeting of July 20, 2010, Butts disrupted the meeting, yelled from the audience, approached city council members and even went behind the dais and laid hands upon the city clerk, Yvonne Horton. He had to be expelled by an IPD officer owing to his behavior.
Three years later, at the April 9, 2013 city council meeting, Butts denied that he had ever done such things despite the video footage of the meeting. His denial was done from behind the dais this time, however, as he had managed to become mayor since the 2010 incident.
The question of his residency was again brought to light.
Members of SEIU Local 721 held a candlelight vigil outside the house at 2512 102nd Street in Inglewood on December 9. The SEIU members were protesting the mayor's plan to lay off city employees and to cut off veteran employees' retiree health benefits.
According to SEIU Union representative Kevin Monk, Butts burst into an SEIU member's board meeting the prior Thursday (December 5) and "angrily" demanded that they "not hold a protest at his mother-in-law's house."
In The Wave's December 12 edition, a story titled "Inglewood employees stage vigil outside mayor’s house," Betty Pleasant wrote, "Butts came out of his West 102nd Street home."
In stark contrast to The Wave, the official paper of Inglewood—which is owned by Willie Brown, a paid political consultant to James T. Butts—stated, "On Monday, a group of city employees showed up at the home of mayor Butts' in-laws—his former residence—to protest." The story, written by assistant editor Veronica Mackey, was in the December 12 edition of "Eye on the City" regarding Butts' comments on the vigil.
Butts has since been sited frequently entering and exiting another residence owned by the Rawls. According to the deed filed at the County Registrar's office, that property, 3691 W. Scribner Lane, Inglewood, California 90305, is also owned by Cora and James Rawls. It is in a gated area known as The Renaissance and is adjacent to the recently renovated Forum.
The mayor did not respond to request for comment.