Butts makes an ass of himself in national interview

Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts should be basking in the glory of opening weekend of the Los Angels Rams’ first home game at SoFi Stadium but instead chose to hurl insults at community members who disagree with how he “gets shit done”.

Mayor Butts’ idea of getting it done involves allegations of cooking the city’s books to lure the NFL to Inglewood, telling a long-time critic to “choke themselves” then lying about saying it.

Now the Inglewood treasurer is reporting he is misallocating federal funds awarded to the city from Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority (LACMTA) where Butts is a member of the board and at one time, its chair.

Related: Inglewood Treasurer Alleges Misallocation of Transportation Funds

Butts is being accused of stalking and harassing his ex-girlfriend/former executive assistant who has filed a $12 million wrongful termination claim against him and the city.

He publicly called a fellow elected official, an “idiot”, during an interview with an international news media source after Scorza questioned why developers want to work with someone with his baggage.

“This man has consistently and repeatedly done things that have been corrupt and yet somehow these major developers of sports teams continue to do business with him,” said D’Artagnan Scorza, president of the Inglewood Unified School District, “because ultimately it gets them what they want, right?”

What did L.A. Rams owner Stan Kroenke want?  No public objections to his seeking to build an 80,000 seat NFL stadium in a city with a little over 100,000 residents.

Butts recounted how 22,000 signatures from Inglewood residents were collected in 2015 for an initiative allowing for the construction of a football stadium. Rather than put the measure on the ballot and up for vote, Butts explained, the five-person City Council led by Butts unanimously voted the initiative into law and avoided the risk of voters rejecting the initiative.

What does L.A. Clippers owner Steve Ballmer want?  No public objections to his seeking to build a new basketball arena which will contribute environmental concerns, including more traffic, in a city less than 9 square miles.

Related: Traffic, noise from new LA Clippers arena would be ‘significant’ and ‘unavoidable,’ report says

How does Butts “get shit done” to aid the owners who have combined to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to finance his and Councilman George Dotson’s campaigns?

Related: Inglewood mayor’s campaign lent nearly $160,000 to a political ally. None of it has been paid back

You take away the public’s right to voice their objections.

You do this by moving city council meeting times to 2pm instead of 7pm; you remove dissenters from making public comments by either arresting them or bringing phony charges against them; you fund campaigns to remove council members you don’t get along with; you remove the city treasurer’s ability to make public remarks; you install a city employee/paid campaign consultant to man the phone lines to keep the public from calling in for public comment during the meeting.

Finally, you use the COVID-19 pandemic to shut down City Hall’s community room to keep the public from appearing in person, to deliver dissenting opposition to Butts’ calculated efforts to keep the public from derailing the city’s “destiny”.

The NFL has benefitted tremendously from Butts’ “get shit done” mentality in returning the NFL to the #2 market in the country, when he bypassed public opposition and used a loophole in the law to turn our petition signatures into the means to have the council vote for the NFL project instead of residents.  And the Rams are grateful.

“… we owe a great debt of gratitude to them,’’ Kroenke said.

Read the full article on USAToday.com.