LAUSD Superintendent Ramon Cortines resigned the law-breaking job he’s had as a member of Scholastic Inc.’s Board of Directors last Friday, because, as he said, “to avoid any perception of a conflict of interest as I carry out my duties as superintendent of the nation’s second largest school district” blah, blah, blah. That’s not good enough at all! What Cortines did was not a “perception,” it was an actual crime — multiple counts of felony conflict of interest in violation of the California Government Code Sections 1090 and 87100 — and our racist district attorney is committing a crime too if he does not prosecute Cortines.

Based on District Attorney Steve Cooley’s highly publicized railroading of Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, this is what Cooley does whenever he “perceives” conflict of interest on the part of a public official: No. 1: He indicts or charges the official with the crime. No. 2: He offers the official a deal to reduce the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor if he pays a fine of $25,000, resigns from his public office and does not seek another office for four years. No. 3: If the official is innocent, he rejects the deal and puts his faith in the corrupt judicial system. No. 4: The official is called to court to answer to the felony indictment (arraigned). He pleads “not guilty.” No. 5: A trial date is set. No. 6: The Machiavellian Cooley and the corrupt judicial system work in tandem to deprive the official of a fair trial. No. 7: Cooley again offers the official a deal to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor and pay a $1,000 fine if he resigns from his public office and never seeks another one. No. 8: The official accepts the deal and gives up his office, which was Cooley’s end game all along.
That is what Cooley did to Dorn. If Cooley was a righteous man, dutifully upholding his oath of office, rather than an evil, opportunist anti-Black bigot, he would be taking Cortines through the eight steps instead of turning a blind eye to his crime by simply letting him resign and walk away from the wrong job with his honor and reputation intact. I hate this. I really do. And I will never let it go.

IF NOT COOLEY, THEN WHO? — Since we in Los Angeles County can’t find a district attorney when we need one, an Inglewood man and his Woodland Hills attorney have taken conflict of interest matters in Inglewood into their own hands, and I say, hooray! After reading in a recent Soulvine about an unsavory state of affairs, the man and his attorney put the city of Inglewood on notice early this month that they have serious issues arising from the city’s contracts with Milton Brown and his company (South Bay Performing Arts Initiative doing business as Inglewood Community Television) which would constitute a direct conflict of interest based on Brown’s and his company’s relationship with Inglewood Councilwoman Judy Dunlap and her staff assistant, Nannette Marchard. As reported here previously, the City Council approved the payment of $1,034,479.48 to Brown and his company between November 2005 and Aug. 13, 2009 per video-making contracts that had never been put out for public bidding. Councilwoman Dunlap has neither confirmed nor denied widely held public speculation that she and Brown were once married. If they were not married, they certainly had a close personal relationship, as my investigation of the two revealed that, at one time, Judith Lerlene Dunlap and Milton F. Brown shared the same address: 24151 Timber St., Apt. 61, in Lake Forest, Ca. 92630. Furthermore, Marchard, Dunlap’s assistant, is listed in state corporate documents as the chief financial officer of Brown’s business, a supposed nonprofit organization that seems to be one of the few entities in the community making a hefty profit.

Comes now Felix Washington, an Inglewood telecommunicator who competes with Brown for that kind of business throughout the city. He is mad because he has never been given the opportunity to bid on the lucrative contracts the City Council has lavished on Brown. Incensed, Washington’s attorney, Steven N. Niebow, dashed off a letter to the city of Inglewood, detailing how this matter violates sections 1090 and 87100 of the California Government Code, as well as Section 2-196 of the Inglewood Municipal Code and Article 36, Section 10 of the City Charter. Niebow is demanding that the city immediately end its illegal contractual relationship with Brown and that it forces Brown to return the $1,034,479.48 the city paid him “plus all such amounts paid subsequent to Aug. 13, 2009.” Niebow said that if city officials fail to meet his demands, he’s going to sue them. (Actually, he said he’s going “to seek appropriate and authorized monetary relief and other such remedies as provided by law.”) See, sometimes we don’t need no stinkin’ district attorney.

WESSON IS NOT CRAZY — Assembly Speaker Karen Bass called me Friday morning to tell me that Councilman Herb Wesson told her that he is not going to run for the 33rd Congressional District seat and that he is, in fact, endorsing her to replace Rep. Diane Watson in the House of Representatives. Excellent! … I received word from Sen. Dianne Feinstein that she endorses Bass for Congress, calling Bass “a role model for all those who want to get things done, and a role model for women making a difference in our nation.” … A bunch of people came together Wednesday at the Children’s Hospital to endorse Bass. They included Council President Eric Garcetti and council members Tom LaBonge and Paul Krekorian.

N-----HEAD NO MORE — Thanks to the work of Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, what was originally known as “N-----head Mountain” before the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and then called “Negrohead Mountain,” was renamed and formally dedicated Ballard Mountain in honor of John Ballard, the 19th century African-American community leader and pioneer homesteader who lived on that particular peak in the Santa Monica Mountains off Mulholland Highway. Yaroslavsky led U.S. geological officials, historians and Ballard descendants in a ceremony Saturday afternoon renaming the peak in tribute to Ballard’s contributions to the early history and development of Los Angeles.

AROUND THE TOWN — I’ve been so busy ranting that I’ve neglected reporting on the doings in the neighborhood. Here are some: First AME Church honored Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn during its Black History Month kickoff service. (Legally, he can still be called “mayor,” and I shall do so.) … Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas was feted as the Man of the Year at West Angeles COGIC’s Community Development Corp.’s 16th annual Unity Awards Dinner on Feb. 4 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. … And the California Friends of the African American Caucus honored a lot of people — including me — at its gala last Saturday evening at the California African-American Museum. … Coming up: The Ford Foundation, in conjunction with the NAACP, will salute 20 local women as Freedom’s Sisters at a luncheon Thursday featuring civil rights icon, Myrlie Evers-Williams, as guest speaker. Karen Bass tops the list of the 20 honorees, which includes noted neighborhood women Sweet Alice Harris, Miriam Scott Long, Holly J. Mitchell and Lillian Mobley. … Comic Aid for Haiti Walk will be held Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m. at the Vision Theatre and various venues in Leimert Park to raise awareness of and donations to help the long-term recovery of the Haitian country and its people. Comedians will be performing at the theater and in clubs, restaurants, bookstores and other establishments in Leimert Park.

AND FINALLY — No, I don’t have any more details on the Sentinel thing. I’m working on it, so stop calling me!