TRI-COUNTY SENTRY

The House Ethics Committee offered Speaker John Boehner and other House leaders an update on its investigation of Rep. Maxine Waters. The committee wants to know whether the L.A. Democrat’s due process rights have been violated.

The update came in the annual committee report to Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Buried among the hirings and accomplishments of 2011 was a paragraph describing the work of the outside investigator brought in to look into the Waters matter.

The L.A. Democrat is accused of using her political influence to help a bank in which her husband owned stock. The report says the investigator Billy Martin and his team performed “a substantial amount of work to move this matter forward,” reviewing tens of thousands of pages of documents and interviewing “numerous” witnesses.

But the key sentence says investigators are conducting “extensive” legal research about Waters’ due process rights. The congresswoman’s ethics hearing was supposed to begin more than a year ago, but a personnel shakeup in the committee and new evidence put the case on hold.

There’s no indication when the investigation will conclude. The report says the committee has been assured of “prompt and thorough recommendations” on the “many questions involved in this matter.”

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Secures $18 Billion California Commitment for Struggling Homeowners

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris

LOS ANGELES - Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today announced an historic commitment to California of up to $18 billion that will benefit hundreds of thousands of homeowners in the state hardest hit by the mortgage crisis.

“California families will finally see substantial relief after experiencing so much pain from the mortgage crisis,” said Attorney General Harris. “Hundreds of thousands of homeowners will directly benefit from this California commitment.”

“This outcome is the result of an insistence that California receive a fair deal commensurate with the harm done here. We insisted on homeowner relief for Californians and demanded enforceability so homeowners actually see a benefit that will allow them to stay in their homes, and preserved our ability to investigate banker crime and predatory lending,” continued Harris.

California secured the $18 billion agreement as part of a national multistate settlement to penalize robo-signing and other bank servicing and foreclosure misconduct. The agreement comes after California departed from the multistate negotiations last September when the estimated relief to California was $4 billion. Attorney General Harris insisted on more relief for the most distressed homeowners, meaningful enforcement, and the ability of California and other states to pursue investigations into misconduct.

California’s participation in the settlement also increased the amount of relief other states will receive by approximately $6 billion.

Attorney General Harris also obtained separate, enforceable guarantees to ensure that banks will be accountable for their commitments to California. As part of the separate California guarantee, banks must enact a minimum of $12 billion in principal reductions for California homeowners. Failure to achieve this minimum level of reductions will result in substantial cash payments of up to $800 million that the banks will have to pay to the state. Unlike the larger multistate agreement, which is enforceable in a federal court in Washington, D.C., this payment provision empowers the Attorney General to summon the banks to California state court.

California’s separate guarantee also creates important incentives to ensure that banks will reduce the principal mortgage balance of underwater homeowners in California’s hardest-hit counties and that the principal reductions in these communities will occur within the first year of the settlement.

To speed investigations and strengthen prosecutions of these mortgage cases, California will expand its Mortgage Fraud Strike Force, adding to the more than 42 members already working on the team. The state will continue its investigative alliance with Nevada, that allows the sharing of resources, information and strategies, and will look to collaborate with additional states focused on a law enforcement response to the wave of mortgage fraud.

The national multistate agreement and California commitment will provide substantial relief for thousands of Californians whose mortgages are owned by the five banks in the settlement, but thousands more will still need help as they struggle to stay in their homes.

“I will continue to fight for principal reductions for the approximately 60 percent of California homeowners whose loans are owned by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Attorney General Harris added.

Attorney General Harris will propose a comprehensive legislative agenda to protect homeowners in the mortgage market. This legislation will build on the three-year reforms agreed to as part of the California commitment, including a single point of contact for mortgage-holders and an end to the unfair and confusing system of dual-track foreclosures.

“This is an historic amount of relief for California homeowners, but it is one piece of a broader focus. We will continue our crackdown on mortgage fraud and quickly move to pass legislation that will simplify, reform and upgrade our broken mortgage system,” Harris added.

The financial benefits of this historic agreement extend to homeowners whose loans are owned or serviced by one of the five largest mortgage lenders. Benefits include:

- More than $12 billion is guaranteed to reduce the principal on loans or offer short sales to approximately 250,000 California homeowners who are underwater on their loans and behind or almost behind in their payments.

- $849 million is estimated to be dedicated to refinancing the loans of 28,000 homeowners who are current on their payments but underwater on their loans.

- $279 million will be dedicated to offering restitution to approximately 140,000 California homeowners who were foreclosed upon between 2008 and December 31, 2011.

- $1.1 billion is estimated to be distributed to homeowners for unemployed payment forbearance and transition assistance as well as to communities to repair the blight and devastation left by waves of foreclosures, targeted at 16,000 recent foreclosures.

- $3.5 billion will be dedicated to relieving 32,000 homeowners of unpaid balances remaining when their homes are foreclosed.

- $430 million in costs, fees and penalty payments.

County-specific payments are based on the number of homeowners and the depth of the foreclosure crisis. It is estimated that homeowners in the following counties will accrue the following level of benefits over the three-year life of the commitment.

- Los Angeles: $3.92 billion

- Riverside: $1.59 billion

- San Bernardino: $1.13 billion

- Sacramento: $820 million

- Stanislaus County: $368 million

Additional details on the settlement, including how homeowners can apply for relief, can be found at www.oag.ca.gov.

Justice Carol D. Codrington

Justice Codrington Shares Triumphs and Struggles of African American Justices and Cases

LOS ANGELES, CA – The California African American Museum’s (CAAM) History Council presents Conversations at CAAM, February 18, 2012, from 1 p.m. – 3 p.m. The Honorable Carol D. Codrington, Associate Justice of the California Courts of Appeal, will discuss African American justices and historic, racially stemmed cases in the California courts. Leading the discussion will be trial attorney and former journalist Valerie D. Morris.

Justice Codrington is the first African American justice appointed to the Fourth District and is currently the only African American female justice in the state. CAAM’s current exhibition Justice, Balance and Achievements: African Americans and the California Courts will provide a catalyst for the discussion. The exhibition, on view through May 27, 2012, examines the achievements of African American judicial leadership and how historically significant court cases have shaped the experiences of African Americans and all Californians. Through objects and photos, the exhibition also celebrates the 17 African American justices who served on the Supreme Court and Courts of Appeal in California.

Justice Codrington is a graduate of Loyola Marymount University, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology, cum laude, and received a Juris Doctorate degree from Loyola Law School. With more than 24 years of experience in the legal profession, Justice Codrington has served as a judicial officer since 2006. For more information visit www.caamuseum.org.

U.S. Rep. Karen Bass Statement on Welfare Integrity Now for Children and Families Act

U.S. Rep. Karen Bass

U.S. Rep. Karen Bass made the following statement on her vote against H.R. 3567, which would require states to implement policies which ensure Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits are not spent at any liquor stores, casino or gambling establishment, or in adult-oriented entertainment venues in which performers disrobe.

“My vote today against H.R. 3567 is not a vote in support of the improper use of TANF benefits, but for the well-being of the working poor who are being negatively mischaracterized in an unnecessary political debate. The reality is, families receiving TANF benefits are well below the poverty line in every state and are barely able to make ends meet to provide food, shelter and clothing for their families – with only $600 per month.

“What’s more disheartening in this debate is the fact that my Republican colleagues are discounting the plight of the working poor and assuming they are aware of how these families survive on a daily basis. Oftentimes in rural communities the nearest ATM to withdraw benefits is five miles away at a casino, which is more practical and economical than traveling 50 miles or more to a bank’s machine; and in urban centers, which are often located in food deserts, liquor stores may be the nearest location for cash-strapped families to obtain the basics – bread, eggs and water for their children.

“While the intent of the author might be to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely, I believe this legislation is mean spirited, irresponsible and has the potential to leave innocent children without food, shelter or clothing.”

Sacramento — The California Hawaii Conference of the NAACP announced that on February 6, 2012 Robert Rooks assumed duties as the Executive Director of California Hawaii NAACP. Most recently, he served as the National Criminal Justice Director of the NAACP, where he provided strategic direction, oversight and management of criminal justice activities at the NAACP.

“Mr. Rooks and I worked together at the national level where I am the chairperson of the NAACP Criminal Justice Committee. Together we rebuilt the almost dormant national criminal justice program into the high profile effective program that is working on behalf of our people. We are excited about what we can do in California,” said Alice Huffman, President of California Hawaii NAACP and member of the NAACP National Board of Directors. “Someone with Robert’s background and experience will be great for the CA NAACP and for the citizens of California as he steers the state operations to a new level of excellence. We are excited that he accepted the State Executive Committee’s offer."

Mr. Rooks served as National NAACP Criminal Justice Director since 2009, and was responsible for launching the Misplaced Priorities-- Educate Not Incarcerate campaign; Ban the Box initiative to remove the question about felony background from employment applications and the campaign to save Troy Davis. He was also instrumental in building NAACP’s work to end the war on drugs and repeal the death penalty. Robert has contributed to a number of media outlets, some of which include, The Huffington Post, TheGrio, Make It Plain with Mark Thompson, Thom Hartmann Show and Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.

Mr. Rooks is an expert on social justice issues and has worked in California, Connecticut and Texas.

“I am so excited about the opportunity to use my diverse background and experiences to advance the goals of the California Hawaii NAACP. We will build a professional team to increase voter turnout and focus on health and education, green jobs to criminal justice reform, I look forward to creating a justice model that builds on the work of historical and current civil rights workers, while organizing and utilizing new media technologies to engage the next generation of civil and human rights leaders,” said Rooks.

Bishop Eddie Long

Eddie Long has apologized for a church service in which he was wrapped in a Torah scroll and called a king.

Last week during a service at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., Ralph Messer, a Messianic Jew and self-described rabbi, ordered congregants to wrap Long in a Torah scroll and then lift him up on a chair bar mitzvah-style while he held the Torah scroll, which was identified as being rescued from Auschwitz.

“The ceremony was not my suggestion, nor was it my intent, to participate in any ritual that is offensive in any manner to the Jewish community,” Long wrote in a letter sent Saturday to Bill Nigut, Southeast Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Nigut released the letter on Sunday.

In an article in the newspaper last week, Nigut was critical of the ceremony, saying it “in no way represents any Jewish ritual that I’m familiar with. We do not proclaim individuals to be kings.”

In the letter sent to the ADL, Long also said “I sincerely denounce any action that depicts me as a King, for I am merely just a servant of the Lord.”

Nigut told CNN that he thought the apology was “very heartfelt, sincere.”

“I was very gratified by Bishop Long apparently recognizing what our concern was,” Nigut also said.

Aaron Price Sr. hugging Sis LaDonna

By Elaine Hegwood Bowen

“Drug dealers don’t get halos, and drug dealers don’t go to Heaven, not even our sons.”

Those reading news accounts about his shooting death have chimed in on message boards that it’s just another Black man dead, and that his death helped to “thin out the herd.” But for those hundreds of family, friends and mourners who turned out to celebrate Aaron Price Sr.’s life on a frigid January morning, he was not just another fatality. He belonged to a family and had close friends who loved him.

Price was killed recently at the age of 32 in an alley in Edgewater on Chicago’s North Side. His mother, Evang LaDonna Price—as hundreds of Black mothers across the nation—doesn’t want his death to be in vain. She admonished those at his service to wake up and accept Jesus Christ and have faith that there are better ways to live. And judging by the dozens of young people who answered the call, just maybe Aaron’s passing might mean more than just another Black man making the wrong choices and having his lifestyle catch up with him.

As hundreds of people filed through the South Side church—Aaron’s father, Anthony, some older family members and friends, but mostly were friends who appeared to be in their 20’s; some wearing gang gear and many probably wondering how such a young man could attract so many people. Everyone agreed: Aaron was the life of the party, but Aaron didn’t always heed the advice and values his mother tried to stress, while raising him and his brother, who is one year older.

Price shared with the crowd that she ignored an assignment that God gave her many years ago to reach out to the youth and that as a result many lives were lost. “I don’t have tears for Aaron right now,” she said. “I am grieving for you all.” She told stories of looking for her son as he was out in the street dealing drugs and running into many of the people who now mourned his death.

She recounted stories of when Aaron was in jail and he said he would talk about the Bible to other inmates, always promising to do better when he was released. But as many Black men have done before him, he just couldn’t let the street and fast money attained by drug dealing go. “He was doing everything and anything that he wanted to do, even after I poured all I could into both of my sons to show them the right way to live,” Price added.

She spoke of the prodigal son, who in the Bible left home but eventually returned to his father. “However, Aaron never made it back home,” she said. “I can’t put him in Heaven, because of his lifestyle, and you all have choices,” she told the audience. “But his lifestyle hurt and harmed people.” As the mourners waited for her next words, many still believing he was the model son, Price jolted some to reality: “You just don’t get shot 17 times for nothing.” Autopsy reports show that Aaron was shot 17 times, and his hands were covered with gloves in the casket.

His death greatly pains Aaron’s father, who loved and will sorely miss him. “I’ll never forget the good times we shared, always thinking you should have been spared,” was his poem to his late son. “But it’s not my call.”

However, the funeral didn’t appear to be services for a gang member; everything was peaceful and there were no instances of conflict. But this is a fact that Pastor Olivia Johnson of Chicago Heights, Illinois’ Generational Blessings Family Worship Center, of which the Prices are members, wanted to impress to the audience. “You spend so much time on Facebook, putting halos up to remember Aaron,” she said. “But he sold drugs to children and he hurt families. Don’t let his dying be in vain. Drug dealers don’t get halos, and drug dealers don’t go to Heaven, not even our sons.”

After imploring those to turn from the streets and to go back to school and become productive adults, Pastor Johnson prayed for dozens of youth who joined at the altar, many becoming swept up in the spirit.

To further spread a message of reform and hope, Ameena Matthews shared her story of transformation, after growing up as one of the oldest children of noted Chicago El Rukin gang leader Jeff Fort. “We have lost countless brothers on the street,” Matthews, who is enjoying phenomenal acclaim for her starring role in the violence intervention documentary The Interrupters, told everyone. “I went through the same journey and thought I was invincible.”

She advised the mourners to take the love they had just experienced by hearing the eulogy saying, “Your promise to the Creator can’t be forgotten.” She encouraged the older people in the audience to take younger ones under their wings. “We can’t keep killing one another, just because we have an argument doesn’t mean we have to shoot.”

Indeed, Aaron’s death is not in vain, says Pastor Johnson. “The service made an immediate impact on the crowd, for within a few days afterward, Facebook postings were no longer filled with profanity and anger but now spoke of simple condolences and fond memories, and a Facebook page memorializing Aaron’s criminal lifestyle was voluntarily removed. Also, young people who had been living wayward, destructive lives outside of their family homes were returning back home for guidance.”

Elaine Hegwood Bowen is a freelance writer in Chicago.

Carmelita Johnson

The family of a Chicago woman whose body was found after laying unidentified in a pile of other bodies at the Cook County morgue for over a year, has filed a lawsuit.

Carmelita Johnson, an Englewood resident, went missing in January 2010 and was found three months later in the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office -- but nobody knew it was her, so it remained there, unidentified for some 14 additional months, the family claims.

Leslie Jackson, Johnson’s daughter, said during a press conference that the medical examiner’s office denied her family closure it desperately needed, NBC Chicago reports.

“We could have had some answers. Now we are just left with a broken heart and unanswered questions,” Jackson said, according to NBC.

The family, ABC Chicago reports, is calling for Cook County Medical Examiner Dr. Nancy Jones to step down from her post as a result of her office’s alleged negligence. They say they want justice to be served for their struggle, as well as the struggles of the families impacted by other allegations of misconduct made against the morgue in recent weeks.

Further details of the lawsuit were not currently available.

Prior to Johnson’s disappearance, her family had reportedly feared for her safety because she was involved in a turbulent relationship with a man. Her body was found in April 2010 on a South Shore beach.

Late last month, Cook County Toni Preckwinkle announced an imminent “overhaul” of the county morgue, which has come under fire for recent reports of bodies being piled up unceremoniously and other “horrendous conditions.”

President Robert M. Franklin

By Bekitembe Eric Taylor

Morehouse College officials launched a national search for a new chief executive Tuesday, a day after school president Robert M. Franklin announced that he is stepping down from his leadership post when his contract ends June 30.

Board of Trustees president Robert Davidson said that no names have yet surfaced to succeed Franklin, who has headed the all-male institution for the last five years.

“We are in the process of forming a search committee to perform a rigorous search for someone who embodies the core values of Morehouse,” said Davidson, a 1967 graduate of the college.

“In the evolution of Morehouse, we want to remain one of the premier institutions in the country,” he added.

Davidson and other college officials praised Franklin for helping to renew the college’s commitment to academic vigor, for doubling alumni donations and for generating more than $90 million in support of the college.

“Robert has led by example, dedicating a substantial portion of his time to community service, which is one of the core values that Morehouse seeks to instill in each and every one of its students,” Davidson said. “We will miss him as the board endeavors to find a replacement who will help to usher the college into a new era.”

While officials were publicly praising Franklin for his leadership, however, college insiders say Franklin was coming under increased scrutiny from board members and influential alumni for poor management decisions that led to a series of fiscal challenges – some say fiascos – at the school.

In an interview with The Atlanta Voice this week, Franklin and Davidson declined to comment about speculation that board members – weary of poor leadership decisions – forced Franklin to step down.

“We have a strict policy that we cannot talk about the financial matters of our staff or the college,” Franklin said. “But I can assure you that Morehouse is operating strongly at this time.”

Franklin, who turns 58 this month, circulated a Jan. 30 letter to college alumni on Monday, announcing that he would not seek another term as the school’s 10th president.

“After much thought and prayer reflection, I have decided to step down as president,” Franklin wrote. “Although I have enjoyed the privilege of serving this great college, and we have witnessed many great successes, I am looking forward to the next chapter of my professional life.”

A 1975 Morehouse graduate, Franklin said he will “pursue my passion for teaching” in various posts around the nation, including as a scholar-in-residence at Stanford University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Institute and as president emeritus and distinguished professor of social ethics at Morehouse.

“I look forward to a sabbatical during which I intend to travel, write, speak and interview leaders about the condition of boys and men in the U.S. and around the globe.”

Morehouse’s board of trustees named him President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor, the college’s highest honor.

“Dr. Franklin has served an integral role leading the renaissance of Morehouse, and his dedication is greatly appreciated,” Davidson said in a statement released by the college.

Franklin said wants his tenure to be remembered as one of scholarship and direct outreach to the student body.

“What I will miss about being president are the students,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to mentor to them, and know them to be the best and brightest of America’s treasures.”