Friday evening I received information Inglewood voters need to know before they go to the polls Tuesday and I’m glad I have a blog with which to do it. (Shut up, Andre.)
 
I received a copy of the recently released “Limited Scope Audit/Review by the Los Angeles County Office of Education of Travel and Expenditures by Members of the Inglewood Board of Education from July 2004 to November 2008.”
 
This audit report was completed late last month and it summarizes what is characterized as inappropriate and illegal expenses of members of the Inglewood school board, two of whom are running for re-election on tomorrow’s ballot.
 
According to this report, board member Trina Williams owes the Inglewood School District $5,523 for cash advances she received in 2007 and 2008, an additional $930 for disallowed expenditures, $1,927.65 for attending the NAACP’s annual convention conference in Cincinnati, as well as $130 for two tickets to the Great Beginnings for Black Babies Gala Event in 2008. The county Board of Education questions the appropriateness of Williams’ use of school district funds to attend the NAACP convention and the Great Beginnings event and deems those expenditures to be disallowed and due for repayment to the Inglewood School District.
 
I was informed that Williams owes all this money despite having told the Inglewood community in a newspaper article and in a letter that she did not owe anybody any money.
 
Arnold Butler, the Los Angeles resident who sits on the Inglewood school board and is seeking re-election Tuesday, owes the district $184 for unpaid cash advances; $750 for a patron ticket to the Congressional Black Caucus’ annual awards dinner in Washington, D.C.; $1,082.90 for attending an NAACP conference in Detroit, which the county Board of Education deems inappropriate and disallowed, as it does the $130 in school district funds Butler spent on two tickets to the last year’s Great Beginnings for Black Babies Gala Event.
 
According to the audit report, Johnny Young, the hypotenuse in the school board’s evil triangle, owes the district $645.90 in assorted disallowed expenses; $960.85 for going with Butler to the NAACP conference in Detroit and $650 for the Great Beginnings for Black Babies Gala Event in 2007.
 
The audit states the county is disallowing some cash advances for lodging, meals and transportation because they were issued “at 100 percent instead of 75 percent as stated in the board bylaws.” The auditors denied conference/convention attendance expenses because “there were instances when Convention and Travel Request Form 1.3 were submitted without approval and authorization or prior approval of the governing board.”
 
The auditors disallowed the costs incurred for instances when board members paid penalties to the airline for excessive baggage, for failing to show up at a reserved hotel and for checking out of a hotel late.
 
The auditors noted that the Inglewood School District paid for meals with invalid receipts submitted by board members. These bad receipts included receipts for meals for guests; receipts with two different dates; receipts that were not issued within the approved travel dates and receipts with a total amount over the $100 approved daily meal allowance.
 
Butler, Young and Williams are blowhards who are always ranting and raving about the district stealing and mismanaging money and passing themselves off as the only people in the city with integrity. Bull s-word! They actually spew this crap with fervor and straight faces! Dump these fools!
 
School board President Carol Raines-Brown is also named in the audit as owing the district money, but she is not up for re-election. Alice Grigsby is the only member of the board who handles her business well, as she is the only one who doesn’t owe the district a dime. Grigsby, the longest-serving member of the board, is being termed-out of office and does not appear on Tuesday’s ballot. Instead, she has endorsed Renee Dorn for her seat. Grigsby has also endorsed Joyce Randall to unseat Butler and Mary Bueno to replace Williams. Good luck to all three.