INSIDE INGLEWOOD - Inglewood city attorney Cal P. Saunders has not denied allegations that in April he informed the current Inglewood administration that he “may leave any day” and that the mayor "should find a replacement as quickly as possible."
Saunders formerly served as a Deputy City Attorney III in the City of Compton until 2006.
LA County D.A Jackie Lacey sent a formal letter dated April 3 requesting a vast number of files including “all documentation relating to car allowances (2005-present)” from the Compton city attorney’s office and several other positions for the same time period.
On March 27, KCET reporter Laurel Erickson broke a story regarding “questionable expenditures, big loans that haven’t been paid back, and council members making up to $1,500 an hour.” The loan under review was prompted by a note that appeared to reveal that “Danny Bakewell owed Compton $3.1 million, but that debt was forgiven and the city expected to receive just $327,000.”
Danny Bakewell is the owner of a Compton-based newspaper as well as Bakewell Company of California, LLC, which owns Turner/Bakewell. The recently built La Tijera school, in the Inglewood Unified School District, was built by Turner/Bakewell in 2010.
The DA also requested “all City of Compton Council votes, contracts, Mutual Release of Claims and Settlement Agreements, and resolutions related to Bakewell and Bunkley Investments.”
Saunders has significant experience in landlord-tenant law, according to his profile on the Web site Avvo.com.
Shortly after allegedly making the possibility of immediate resignation known to the mayor, Saunders took a 10-day vacation.
During his absence, assistant city attorney Kenneth R. Campos filled in for Saunders.
Saunders did not return any of the many phone calls and e-mails sent requesting comment.
(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)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 37
Pub: May 7, 2013
