By Kenneth Miller | Publisher
The City of Inglewood voters are the target of a waging war against its incumbent Mayor James T. Butts, Jr. as billionaire sports owners fight for control over advertising billboards through its own measure BB. It is a mess that has divided some of the most prominent and powerful political leaders in the state of California.
Let’s start with the race for mayor, it’s a primary folks, not the general and therefore if nobody gets 50 percent of the vote it will advance to a spring runoff with the top two finishers.
There are five candidates challenging Butts; District 1 City Councilmember Gloria Gray, lawyer Fre’Drisha Dixon, community leader Raina Carrillo, Joseph Soto and Arturo Martinez.
Butts reign as mayor stretches a record 15 years and he is credited with reviving the city essentially from dead, negotiating deals that produced two new stadiums, three sports teams and a renovated Forum, but his reputation has been stained by a since victorious lawsuit against a former aid and most recently allegations that he inappropriately touched an Inglewood High School female student during an event outside of City Hall.
With just days before the election on Nov. 3, the race has become so sullied and slimy that it fits right in with Halloween, but if you were to ask any of the residents in Inglewood what the candidates policy position is, you are not likely to get an answer.
Front and center are billionaires, Rams owner Stan Kroenke and his groups and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and his The Ballmer Group funding support for BB and opposing Mayor Butts, including financing the billboards against him and for his opponent Gloria Gray.
Butts opposes BB and supports WOW Media, arguing revenue from the slew of electronic billboards generates million up to $8 million a year in vital revenue for local city services, parks, senior programs, and street repairs.
FIGHT TO THE FINISH–This illustration depicts the two leading characters in the race for mayor of the City of Inglewood, incumbent James T. Butts, Jr. and City Councilmember Gloria Gray in a boxing posture. The Nov. 3 election will determine who becomes the city top public official or if a runoff off is necessary. (ILLUSTRATION BY CANVA AI)
However, at the foundation of the billionaires angst against Butts is the voiding of the $400 million SoFi Stadium Agreement that cancelled a infrastructure reimbursement plan between Hollywood Park/SoFi Stadium and Inglewood. Signed in 2015 it required the City of Inglewood to reimburse the developer $376 million for public infrastructure improvements and $52 million for public services, but now Inglewood is demanding a refund of $20 million it already paid the developer.
Hence, these are the same billionaires who praised their relationship with Butts in the past, but are against him now, with Kroenke telling USA Today in a 2016 article; “He’s a gentleman, a man of his word.”
Ballmer was also very complimentary of Butts telling the Atlanta Journal Constitution he’s a “transformational leader”.
So, now that Butts is making decisions independent of them, and what he deems best for the City of Inglewood these same sports owners that glorified him, they are at war with him.
Thus they have hitched their wagon of millions to Gray, financing a massive Maxine Waters endorsement campaign and are hell bent to get Butts out of office.
The Ballmer Group also provided a $3 million grant to the non-profit news organization The LA Local that chronicles many of the articles with sources from inside the billionaires camp, but the outlet vowed its independence nonetheless.
In addition to Waters and the billionaires bankroll behind it, Gray has also secured the endorsement of the LA County Democratic Party, Butts counters with heavyweights from the political arena including Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, County Supervisors Holly J. Mitchell (District 2), Hilda L. Solis (District 1),Janice Hahn (District 4), Kathryn Barger (District 5, Lindsey Horvath (District 3) and Inglewood Councilmembers Alex Padilla, Eloy Morales Jr., & Dionne Faulk.
The McKinnor endorsement is the big one. Not that the others are not significant, but McKinnor has established herself as a bonafide leader and power player in the dynamic of California politics.
She is the Chair of the Public Employment and Retirement Committee that controls influential legislation regarding state workers and labor unions; Chair of the LA County Legislative Delegation which commands local influence as leader of one of the state’s largest regional caucuses; Chair of the Select Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games: Directs state oversight for the upcoming Los Angeles games and the Vice Chair of the Legislative Progressive Caucus.
A former Chief of Staff former Assemblywoman Autumn Burke, of the powerful Burke family, McKinnor ran for the seat when Burke stepped down and defeated an opponent Burke endorsed.
Like Waters, McKinnor is fierce, determined and a fighter for what she believes in. It’s daunting confrontation that will challenge Waters local ground game and political capital.
Veteran political consultant John Shallman the chief strategist behind BB cited support of Gray in a email to The LA Local, stating the stadium-backed campaign shifted toward Gray after she won endorsements from the LA County Democratic Party and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters. He praised her campaign for highlighting resident voices.
“We came to believe that Gloria Gray was the right person at the right time,” he said.
The voters will decide on Nov. 3 either who the mayor will be or who advances to the spring runoff. Billionaires will have their hands all over it.
