Cover Up in Inglewood City Hall

Is the Inglewood City Hall Video/Social Media Team being forced to remove unflattering and misogynistic comments from City Council meeting videos?  That is the claim by resident Diane Sambrano who was told to “choke herself” by Inglewood Mayor James Butts during a June council meeting.

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During public comment, Diane Sambrano, came to the podium to speak, and as she was giving comment, Mayor Butts told her to “choke herself”.  This author was watching the live Facebook feed and heard the Mayor make the disgusting comment.

A review of the city’s taxpayer paid Facebook shows the video has been removed and the video on the city’s YouTube page has been altered to remove the mayor’s comment.

Deputy to City Manager Yakema Decatur supervises the social media/video manager Thomas Bunn, who is paid a salary of nearly $60,000 and runs his own video production company, Above the Grain, who regularly receives warrant payments for working for the city outside of normal business hours.  Bunn previously worked for the mayor’s newspaper, Inglewood Today, under the direction of Willie Brown.

During the August 7th council meeting, Joe Texeira, who was sued by the mayor for altering council videos, which caught the mayor in many lies, inquired if Mayor Butts made the comments to Sambrano which the mayor flatly denied.  When asked if he would look into the editing and removal of the original video he claimed to have no clue who was over the video.  Taxpayers paid out over $100k for the Mayor’s lawsuit against the resident which the city promptly lost.

Related:  Inglewood must pay $117,741 for ‘meritless’ lawsuit against critic, judge rules

During the same meeting, Sambrano made a public cry for help, stating that if something happened  to her, Mayor Butts is directly responsible.

As of late, Decatur’s signature has been all over crucial staff reports that have gone to the mayor and council for approval.  There is no way he would not know who is responsible for videoing the meetings as Bunn is responsible for setting up the microphones and performing sound checks prior to the meeting.

It appears that Mayor Butts is dead set on not going down by himself.  He will also drag hard working city employees with him.  What’s unclear is if they are willing participants to his deception and fraud to remain on the city’s payroll.  Should the feds come knocking, which one will spill the tea first to save themselves?