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LeftyMom

(49,212 posts)
Thu May 15, 2014, 11:07 PM May 2014

Just a reminder: The Mayor of Sacramento is really, really gross (and his wife is too)

http://deadspin.com/the-man-who-helped-bring-down-donald-sterling-is-an-ass-1576960521

Johnson and Rhee seem to be everywhere these days. There was a joint appearance at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. There was another at the Kentucky Derby. And of course before either of those was Johnson's cameo in the Sterling saga. Called in as an unofficial representative of the players, Johnson lobbied NBA commissioner Adam Silver to come down hard on Sterling. After the announcement of Sterling's lifetime ban and $2.5 million fine, The New York Times's Harvey Araton wrote: "It is apparent that the league's response was shaped as much by the influence of a player turned politician who has no official affiliation with the NBA as it was by Silver's conviction."

It was a bitterly funny turn of events for some longtime Johnson observers, who remember when he was the guy making repulsive admissions on tape while speaking with a much younger female with whom he never should've been involved. At the very least, they believe Johnson—with an assist from Rhee—earned a lifetime ban from the moral high ground many years ago. "All I can say is the factually supported charges against Johnson certainly bring into question holding him out to be a moral compass," says New York attorney Gerald Walpin.

From 2007 to 2009, Walpin was inspector general for the Corporation for National Community Service. That's the federal agency that oversees AmeriCorps. On that job, Walpin investigated St. HOPE Academy, a group Johnson founded to run charter schools in his hometown of Sacramento that got lots of AmeriCorps money. In 2008, Walpin issued a referral to the local U.S. Attorney for the "criminal and civil prosecution" of Johnson for "obtaining by law federal funds under a grant," and the "filing of false and fraudulent claims" in connection with subsidies totaling $845,018.75. The allegations included lots of bogus accounting. People on AmeriCorps's dime as St. HOPE tutors, according to a joint report on Walpin's investigation issued by Congressional Republicans, were being asked to "wash his car [and] run personal errands" for Johnson.

But the seamiest stuff in those files, and there's a lot of it, comes when investigators take a break from possible fiscal malfeasance to accuse Johnson of physical misdeeds. According to the oversight committee's report, Walpin included allegations of "inappropriate sexual conduct" against Johnson in his criminal referral to the U.S. attorney's office because they could "seriously impact ... both the security of young [AmeriCorps] Members placed in the care of grantees and ... the ability of AmeriCorps to continue to attract volunteers." Johnson's past, as outlined by the committee, also includes alleged hush-money payments to make all this bad news go away. Judging by the non-mention in The New York Times's opus, it largely has gone away.

According to the reports, while investigators were in Sacramento looking into the misuse of funds, they "became aware of allegations of inappropriate contact between Johnson and three female St. HOPE students." Walpin's office later "uncovered evidence of two other female St. HOPE students reporting Johnson for inappropriate sexual conduct towards them."
More at the link.
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Just a reminder: The Mayor of Sacramento is really, really gross (and his wife is too) (Original Post) LeftyMom May 2014 OP
Knr roody May 2014 #1
The vile twins. Starry Messenger May 2014 #2
I had no idea that these two were a couple Doctor_J May 2014 #3
He's not one of my favorites, either.... elzenmahn May 2014 #4
When does he foul out? KamaAina May 2014 #5
Term limits? Whazzat? LeftyMom May 2014 #6
Must be a lot of fun in that house.... bayareaboy May 2014 #7

elzenmahn

(904 posts)
4. He's not one of my favorites, either....
Fri May 16, 2014, 10:45 AM
May 2014

...and his constant push for a "strong mayor" city charter has me looking elsewhere for my vote. If you can't get things done with the governmental structure you have - then you're in the wrong line of work, buddy.

And don't get me started about Michelle Rhee.

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