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Thu, Mar

Corruption: Inglewood Councilman Fails to Report Outside Income

LOS ANGELES

SOUTH OF THE 10-Inglewood Councilman Eloy Morales Jr. is required to complete annual statements of economic interests known as Form 700s.

The documents are submitted by elected officials, and certain city employees, to report outside income, investments and gifts received. These forms are signed under penalty of perjury that they are correct. Morales signed his 2018 form and failed to disclose his income sources. 

In 2018, both 2UrbanGirls and the Daily Breeze reported that Morales makes income off his Inglewood council votes. He worked as a consultant for an entity called Pacific Coast Waste, whose parent company is Consolidated Disposal/Republic Services, who received a 10-year trash contract that Morales voted in favor of. 

Morales reported receiving between $10,001-$100,000 for government relations work.

2UrbanGirls and the Los Angeles Times reported on an investment property Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. purchased, and flipped for a profit.

Coincidentally, both Butts and Morales have failed to make usual reporting on their annual Form 700s. They usually submitted 3-4 pages of documents and in 2018 the forms shrunk to single forms being submitted.

2UrbanGirls contacted Lee Andrews Group (LAG), a public relations firm, that Morales typically reports receiving $100,000 in income from as a strategic advisor. LAG was not listed on Morales’ 2018 which prompted a phone call to the consulting firm.

LAG confirmed today that Morales is still employed with their firm and has been so continuously for years.

Morales’ colleague, George Dotson, also files annual statements of economic omitting pertinent information and received a $2,000 fine from the Fair Political Practices Commission for doing so. 

In 2016 both Dotson and Morales reported receiving Rams tickets. Dotson claimed the true value of the tickets on his Form 700 as $750 while Morales reported receiving three tickets for a total of $375.

Neither Morales nor his council liaison Jaime Gutierrez, were available to answer why Morales submitted forms, under penalty of perjury, that omitted his income. Inglewood City Hall’s IT Department has blocked 2UrbanGirls emails from city servers, to prevent such questions from being answered.

(2UrbanGirls has been cited in CityWatch LA, Compton Herald, Daily Breeze, Daily News, Inglewood Today, Intersections South LA, KCRW, KPCC, Los Angeles Times, LA Weekly, LA Watts Times, Mercury News, Orange County Register and The Atlantic.)

-cw

 

 

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