Mayor Butts, Council Defend Hiring of Former LAXPD Assistant Chief

The Inglewood City Council appear to be regular readers of this blog. 2UrbanGirls published an article on Monday titled Disgraced Former LAXPD Assistant Chief Lands at the City of Inglewood and during the council meeting Mayor Butts praised the subject of the article.

Inglewood Mayor Butts, Councilman’s Alex Padilla and Ralph Franklin ALL went out of their way to heap praise on Brian Walker, the Manager of the Office of Emergency Services. The office is responsible for handling natural disasters, terrorism, civil unrest, jobs you would think fall under the Inglewood Police Department. The office also supervises employees of the city’s security vendor.

Mayor Butts clarified and confirmed that he promoted Walker during his time at the LAX Police Department and offered no explanation that after lying to the FBI, and being convicted of doing such, why he now is on the city payroll.

In the real world, Brian Walker couldn’t get a job screening you at the airport to board a flight, let alone be hired to fight terrorism and civil unrests. It is also unclear if Walker had to go through normal civil serivice hiring procedures of undergoing a background check. This is not the only questionable hiring the city has done.

Inglewood CFO/Assistant City Manager David Esparza was investigated by local news media and was found to be involved in the misappropriation of CDBG funds while employed at the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles. It came as no surprise to Inglewood watchdogs when Esparza brought those same sleazy tactics to our city, and was found by the Office of the Inspector General to have misappropriated $700k in Housing Authority funds.

Residents are whispering there may be some connection to the Mayor’s avoiding legal interjection due to his rapid gentrification of the city of Inglewood and this council’s approval of the NFL stadium in our city of less than 100,000 residents.

Every week, during council meetings, the Mayor Butts pats himself on the back and pretends to be a man of strong conviction and so smart that other cities clamor to learn from him. His actions of defending someone who is deceitful leads residents to believe Walker could act in an unscrupulous manner, and/or be susceptible to taking a bribe, and leaving taxpayers footing the legal fees.

A CBS news investigation into corruption within LAXPD resulted in Walker abruptly resigning from the department back in September 2016 ensuring he kept his pension and from being fired.

Following Walker’s resignation, Officer Rodney Rouzan publicly discussed the corruption that existed within LAXPD, possibly dating back to 2012, when he was fired over false claims.

Some could say that being convicted of a misdemeanor is “no big deal”. Others could say Mayor Butts is looking out for an old friend. But knowing how Mayor Butts does’t like certain “optics” of his decisions, the city should have passed on the hiring of Brian Walker.

As a former Chief of Police, Mayor Butts understands the gravity and severity of lying to authorities. If he had a hand in the city of Inglewood hiring the officer, he promoted, knowing he’s a liar, is it possible Mayor Butts also lied to the FBI when questioned about the Inglewood trash contract? Councilman Padilla is another one of Mayor Butts’ former subordinates.

The saying is birds of a feather flock together.

Welcome to the “new” Inglewood.