INSIDE INGLEWOOD-With one week remaining before District 62 stakeholders head to the polls on June 3, it should be noted that among those who are support Autumn Burke in her Assembly Seat (AD-62) are convicted felons, big oil interests intent on fracking in AD-62 and the right-wing Koch brothers.
Basil Kimbrew, a convicted felon who served prison time for violating his parole regarding campaign activity and money laundering and for incidents involving voter fraud, is in Burke’s corner. (It should also be noted that Kimbrew has worked for Carson’s mayor, Jim Dear—who recently voted to allow fracking in the City of Carson after he was bought out by Occidental Oil to do exactly that.)
Willie Brown, owner of the “official” newspaper of the City of Inglewood, was one of two parties named by the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) for election fraud-related charges. Owing to the contract that Brown’s paper, Inglewood Today, had with the city, Inglewood paid the record-breaking $50,000 fine.Brown and his “news”paper—along with Inglewood District 2 council member Alex Padilla—is currently being successfully sued for libel. (Padilla was Butts’ hand-picked candidate in the 2013 City of Inglewood election and is a long-time police colleague of Butts.) Brown’s former attorney has apparently resigned from representing Brown owing to what is believed to be a lack of confidence in Brown’s case.
Brown’s paper maintains a close financial relationship with Inglewood’s current mayor, James T. Butts, who has formally endorsed Burke.
According to a story in the LA Times, Butts was charged with sexual and physical abuse of his 5-year-old daughter. The accusation was made by one of this former wives, Minnie Butts, who was at the time an Inglewood police officer. It was stated in a later LA Times story that there was evidence of Butts abusing that wife.
Burke has been also heavily supported by SuperPACS financed by the Koch brothers and big oil. One of those superPACs is Fairpac which is organized by Civil Justice Association of California (CJAC). CJAC has on its board ExxonMobil, Shell and Dow Chemical Company, among others.
Fairpac has received significant funding from the Koch brothers who are well-known for their clear racist, union busting and far-right wing Republican agendas.
There is also Burke’s campaign manager, Tina McKinnor, who until November 2013 was outgoing Assembly District 62's Steven C. Bradford’s District Director. (Reached via e-mail, McKinnor did not respond to questions about her lack of full disclosure regarding her remarkable relationship with Bradford.)
Until Friday, May 23, however, she maintained on her LinkedIn, Facebook and other professionally based social networks that she remains Bradford’s general office manager even as she is District 62 candidate Autumn Burke’s campaign manager. (She has since altered her sites—but not before screenshots were taken as evidence.)
One wonders: are tax dollars from Bradford’s office being used to finance Burke’s campaign?
With all this in mind, one also wonders if simply painting a person “blue” is enough to call them a Democrat—when all one must do to see the “red” beneath the patina is start scratching to find the truth: Autumn Burke, it would appear, is being paid to represent and be represented by big oil, convicted felons and the Koch brothers.
(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 weekly newspaper based in Inglewood, CA and on-line at www.MorningsideParkChronicle.com)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 43
Pub: May 27, 2014
