Inglewood mayor election today
Daniel Tabor, James T. Butts Jr.
INGLEWOOD, Calif.—Inglewood residents will head to the polls today to elect a mayor, deciding between incumbent Daniel Tabor and former Santa Monica police chief and Inglewood deputy chief James T. Butts Jr.
Tabor led the list of candidates in the November primary election, but failed to earn the majority of votes needed to claim the mayor's office outright.
Tabor has been in the mayor's chair since August, when he won a runoff election to fill out the term of former Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, who resigned last January after pleading guilty to a conflict-of-interest charge.
Dorn's guilty plea came as prospective jurors were set to be questioned in his trial on charges stemming from his acceptance of a $500,000 loan through a city housing program.
The winner of today's runoff election will receive a fresh four-year term.
Tabor, 56, is a longtime public official, previously serving on the Inglewood City Council. He also worked for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Butts, 57, led the Santa Monica Police Department for 15 years, and worked for the Inglewood department for almost 20 years. He also served as head of security for Los Angeles World Airports.
Retired police chief James Butts appears to be in the lead in the race to become Inglewood’s new mayor ahead of incumbent Daniel Tabor according to the unofficial election results released by the Inglewood city clerk’s office yesterday. The tally reported that Butts was leading the race with 56 percent of the vote, compared to 44 percent for Tabor.
There were still more vote-by-mail and provisional ballots that had yet to be accounted for, which left Tabor still very confident that the pendulum could still swing in his favor.
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—The Board of Airport Commissioners voted today to award $5.6 million in grant money to the city of El Segundo for soundproofing of homes and apartments in the Los Angeles International Airport adjacent community.
The grant will be combined with $12.8 million in Federal Aviation Administration funding and will soundproof more than 400 single- and multi-family units affected by takeoffs and landings at LAX.
Inglewood residents recently protested outside of the Ladera Heights home of newly elected Mayor James Butts.
Butts, the former police chief of Santa Monica, recently beat incumbent Daniel K. Tabor in a heated runoff election to replace former Mayor Roosevelt Dorn, who was forced from office after pleading guilty to a public corruption charge in Jan. 2009.
After four elections in one year, voters elected Butts with 56 percent of the vote on Jan. 11.
Seven candidates are in the running to become interim council member for District 1, filling the position that Danny Tabor vacated when he was elected mayor on Aug. 31.
The special election will be held on Jan. 11, and if no candidate wins a 51 percent majority, the two top vote-getters will square off in another election. The winner will hold office at least until March, when District 1 voters will be asked to elect a representative to a full term.
There are clearly more important immediate things for the California Black community to worry about—the level of involvement of the L.A. Sheriff’s Department in the kidnap, murder and possible rape of Mitrice Richardson; electing Danny Tabor and finally ending the seemingly endless mayoral election process in Inglewood; and getting the votes finally counted between Harris and Cooley, for example.
Nevertheless, as evolving political analysts, it is important for us to keep up with the whole process, from federal to water district level.
