In addition to voting on June 8 for one of nine candidates running for mayor of Inglewood, residents of that city are also being asked to vote “yes” or “no” on Measure CS — a proposition to remove three top-level city employee classifications from the constraints of the civil service system and make them vulnerable to the foibles of cronyism, nepotism, villainy, malefaction and perfidy. If approved by two-thirds majority vote, Measure CS would remove from the civil service system, and declare as “unclassified,” Inglewood’s senior administrative analyst to the mayor, executive assistant to the mayor, and the council members’ assistants to the City Council.

If this measure passes, civil service rules and requirements will no longer apply to these people. They will not be subject to police background checks and vetted to uncover possible criminal backgrounds and/or lapses in moral turpitude. They will not become permanent employees with rights, but rather remain perpetual hand-picked, toadying, “yes” men and women serving at the will of politicians — not professionals, mind you — only politicians. And that, in itself, is ominous. Why would Inglewood want to declassify just the assistants to the mayor and the city council members and not to the city administrator or the city attorney or other department heads?

It looks to me like they’re setting up a system of co-conspirators, of bedfellows, of potential partners in crime, such as we saw in the city of Carson in the not-too-distant past when the mayors and city council members went to prison for various federal misdeeds and so did their colluding assistants, aides and operatives. Measure CS bodes badly and ought to be rejected.

Another thing. The four Inglewood City Council members signed en masse the argument in favor of Measure CS that appears in the sample ballot. I checked, and no one came up with an agenda item at any council meeting in which that body decided to collectively write the only argument in favor of stripping their assistants of civil servant status. Yet, there it is. In order for it to get there, then, the four members of the city council had to have violated the Brown Act.

FIELD TRIP — I made one of my occasional reconnaissance missions to Inglewood last Friday and arrived just as mourners left the funeral of Paul H. Devan Sr., who was a former Rams football player, a prime mover of the national Head Start program and a community service and political icon in the South Bay area. Mourners streaming from Faithful Central Bible Church were aghast and indignant about how Councilwoman Judy Dunlap crashed Devan’s funeral. Dunlap was not listed among the prominent progressive Black and Latino politicians honoring Devan, nor was she invited to appear on the program. I’m told a highly visible physical attempt was made by a female official to stop her from taking the podium, but she forced her way to it anyway and made, what they tell me, was “a mayoral campaign speech full of lies.” They told me further that the incident was surreal and ironic because everybody who knew Devan knew that he disliked Dunlap intensely.

THIS AND THAT — State Sen. Curren Price has created a 26th District Commission on Trade and Investment in Africa and he has appointed Uxchenna N. Nworgu, an investment and marketing consultant, to chair it. … James B. Morris, the LAUSD’s chief operating officer, is leaving his post on June 30 after spending 30 years with the school district. Morris, one of the most beloved and highly respected administrators in the LAUSD, has been selected to serve as superintendent of the Fremont Unified School District in Northern California.

President and Mrs. Obama delivered commencement addresses to the 2010 graduating classes of two historically Black colleges and universities (Hampton University and the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, respectively), and the president is sending high-ranking members of his administration to speak to graduates at nine more HBCUs this season, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to Morehouse and United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice to Spelman this past Sunday.

To offset deep cuts to Los Angeles’ illegal dumping removal services, Councilwoman Janice Hahn allocated $500,000 Monday to preserve the services in Watts, Harbor Gateway and Wilmington. The money for the dumping removal were transferred from Hahn’s City Council Pipeline Fund, which accrues funds from pipeline franchises in Council District 15.

Black babies have been saved! Spurred by the passionate testimonies of Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Zev Yarolavsky, the First 5 L.A. Commission voted May 13 to extend transitional funding to the Black Infant Health Program, which serves at-risk pregnant African-American women throughout the whole of Los Angeles County. Supervisor Gloria Molina, chair of the Board of Supervisors and chair of the First 5 L.A. Commission, did not attend the meeting. Thank you everybody. You did good.

DATEBOOK — Last week, Assemblyman Isadore Hall did something stupid. This week he’s doing something to help us: He, in conjunction with the California Legislative Black Caucus Foundation, is hosting a Family and Youth Conference to provide college access and scholarship and internship information and assistance to youth and their families. The conference will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon in the Loker Student Union at Cal State Dominguez Hills, 1000 E. Victoria St. in Carson.

The Culver Crest Neighborhood Association will convene a community forum/information meeting Wednesday on the risks of oil drilling in earthquake country, as is the case with communities abutting the Baldwin Hills Oil Field.The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Marycrest Manor, 10664 Saint James Drive in Culver City. It will feature an oil field expert to describe the risks and how they can be mitigated, as well as the three 47th Assembly District candidates who will be asked how, if elected, they intend to insure residents’ safety in the face oil field disasters.

PASSINGS — Funeral services for the Rev. Earl Green, the longtime assistant pastor of First AME Church, were held Monday at the church, with current pastor, the Rev. John J. Hunter, officiating, along with his predecessors, the Rev. Cecil “Chip” Murray and Bishop H.H. Brookins. The repast was served in the church’s Earl Green Pavilion, which had been dedicated to the deceased last year. Rev. Green died May 10 at age 76. … Funeral services for Robert L. Scott, of Jazz at Drew fame, will be held Saturday at the WLCAC’s Phoenix Hall, 10950 S. Central Ave. at 11 a.m. Scotty died May 3. May they rest in peace.

AND FINALLY — The Fair Political Practices Commission sent written notification to Felix Washington, the complainant, and to Judy Dunlap (the complained about?), that its Enforcement Division is investigating Dunlap’s alleged use of city of Inglewood resources to mount her mayoral campaign, and her other alleged unfair political practices.