#tax audit attorney los angeles

[96thdayofrage]

BLM leaders are warned they will be held personally liable if they fail to disclose details of $60M in donations by California DoJ - as charities' financial mysteries deepen

The leaders of Black Lives Matter could be held personally liable if they fail to disclose financial records about the charity's $60 million in donations within the next 60 days.

In a letter issued to BLM on Monday, the California Department of Justice accused the charity of failing to submit its annual financial reports and alleged it was in delinquent status.

'An organization that is delinquent, suspended or revoked is not in good standing and is prohibited from engaging in conduct for which registration is required, including soliciting or disbursing charitable funds,' the letter reads.

The DOJ requested a copy of BLM's annual registration renewal fee report and its 2020 IRS tax forms within two months time.

If the organization fails to submit these documents, its charity exemption status will be revoked. It could also face fines for 'each month or partial month for which the report(s) are delinquent.'

The letter, which was obtained by the Washington Examiner, threatened that 'directors, trustees, officers and return preparers' would be 'personally liable' for 'all penalties, interest and other costs incurred to restore exempt status'. The DOJ notes that 'charitable assets cannot be used to pay these avoidable costs'.

The notice comes just days after it was revealed that BLM has not had anyone in charge of its finances since co-founder Patrisse Cullors resigned last May.

It is not clear who is currently in charge of the activist group after all three of its founding members - Cullors, Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi  - left the organization.

Cullors, 38, stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLMGN) last year amid scrutiny of her $3.2 million property empire.

The scrutiny into BLMGN's also finances comes after it was reported that the group transferred $6.3 million to Cullors spouse, Janaya Khan, and other Canadian activists to purchase a mansion in Toronto in 2001.

California's warning follows an order from Washington state instructing BLM to 'immediately cease' fundraising in the state due to its 'lack of financial transparency'.

However, the Washington Examiner alleges BLM continues to solicit and receive contributions from Washington state residents despite the order.

The National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative watchdog group, is reportedly preparing to file a complaint against the charity.

'The National Legal and Policy Center will be filing a formal complaint with the Attorneys General of Washington and California to impose the maximum penalties on BLMGNF for their flagrant and repeated violations of the charity disclosure laws in those states and it seems in many others,' attorney Paul Kamenar told the newspaper Tuesday.  

The watchdog group's complaint comes as charity auditors have expressed alarm at the management of BLM's $60 million in donations, after it emerged that people announced as leading the organization never took up the role, and no one seemed able to say who was handling the finances.

The most recent tax filing for the charity, from 2019, gives an address in Los Angeles that does not exist, and the two remaining BLM directors identified by The Washington Examiner were not able to assist - with one even scrubbing BLM associations from his social media after he was contacted by the paper.

They are yet to file a 2020 return, a Form 990, as required - which could see BLM fined by the IRS.

Laurie Styron, executive director of CharityWatch, said the findings were deeply troubling, and said they should have filed their 2020 form by now.

'Like a giant ghost ship full of treasure drifting in the night with no captain, no discernible crew, and no clear direction,' she said.

Kamenar told the paper a full audit was needed, describing the situation as 'grossly irregular'.

Expert allege the problem began in earnest in May 2021, when Cullors stepped down as director of BLMGN, the national body representing all the individual local chapters.

Cullors co-founded BLM in July 2013, after a Florida jury acquitted George Zimmerman in the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Alicia Garza, an Oakland activist, posted what she called a love letter to black people on Facebook, writing, 'Our lives matter.' Cullors, a friend of Garza, replied with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.

New York activist Opal Tometi then used the words while building a digital network of community organizers and antiracism activists.

Garza and Tometi are no longer affiliated with the network, and Cullors was its figurehead and leader throughout the George Floyd protests - which saw huge donations flood in.

The organization's finances had been managed by a group called Thousand Currents, which says it has a 'mission of supporting grassroots movements pushing for a more just and equitable world.'

In the summer of 2020, leaders sought nonprofit status with the IRS, which was granted in December 2020 - allowing the organization to receive tax-deductible donations directly.  The designation requires the foundation to file public 990 forms, revealing details of its organizational structure, employee compensation, programming and expenses.

In September 2020, Cullors signed documents with Thousand Currents transferring $66.5 million into BLM's accounts.

In February 2021, Black Lives Matter confirmed it took in $90 million throughout 2020, distributed to their partner organizations, and had $60 million remaining in its accounts.

In its report, a snapshot of which was shared with AP, the BLM foundation said individual donations via its main fundraising platform averaged at $30.76 each.

More than 10 percent of the donations were recurring.

The report does not state who gave the money in 2020, and leaders declined to name prominent donors.

Expenses were approximately $8.4 million — that includes staffing, operating and administrative costs, along with activities such as civic engagement, rapid response and crisis intervention.

BLM said at the time that they were sharing the details in a bid to be more transparent - admitting that their structure and finances had previously been opaque.

But two months later, in April 2021, reports began emerging - provided by the National Legal and Policy Center - which showed Cullors had amassed a $3.2 million property empire.

Cullors owned four properties - three in the Los Angeles area and one outside of Atlanta - the researchers found.

Many within BLM turned against Cullors, questioning where she had accumulated the money. Cullors has written two books, has a deal with YouTube, and signed a production deal with Warner Bros. in 2020 to develop programming 'for children, young adults and families.'

However, amid the furor she stood down and announced that two people were taking over as executive directors - Makani Themba and Monifa Bandele.

Yet Themba and Bandele in September said that they had never taken up the roles, following disagreements with leadership.

'Although a media advisory was released indicating that we were tapped to play the role of senior co-executives at BLMGN, we were not able to come to an agreement with the acting Leadership Council about our scope of work and authority,' they said in a statement.

'As a result, we did not have the opportunity to serve in this capacity.'

Themba and Bandele said they did not know who was now running BLM, as their discussions never progressed.

Two other people remained on the board, after Cullors' departure - Shalomyah Bowers and Raymond Howard, according to undated documents obtained by The Washington Examiner.

Bowers served as the treasurer for multiple activist organizations run by Cullors, The Washington Examiner reported, including BLM PAC and a Los Angeles-based jail reform group that paid Cullors $20,000 a month and spent nearly $26,000 on 'meetings' at a luxury Malibu beach resort in 2019.

Bowers has not commented on the current status of the $60 million in the BLM coffers.

Howard also refused to comment when asked by the paper, and has since updated his LinkedIn page to remove references to his work with 'an international social justice organization'.

Meanwhile, Cullors has been tied to even more charities whose finances raise 'red flags' after the organization donated hundreds of thousands to the nonprofits which then made payments to Cullors and her business partners, according to a new report on the organization's spending.

Cullors, 38, who stepped down as executive director of the Black Lives Matter Global Network last year amid scrutiny of her $3.2 million property empire, had designated some of the $90 million the nonprofit made in 2020 to prison reform charities.

One of the groups, Reform LA Jails that Cullors founded, had received $1.4 million, of which $205,000 went to the consulting firm owned by Cullors and her spouse, Janaya Khan, New York Magazine reported.  

Reform LA Jails then gave $270,000 to Christman Bowers, treasurer of the Black Lives Matter PAC; $211,000 to Asha Bandelle, a friend of Cullors' who co-wrote her memoir; and another $86,000 to Trap Heals LLC, an entertainment, clothing and consulting company started by Damon Turner, the father of Cullor's child.  

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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

March 10, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

Today was a big day for the United States of America.

The House of Representatives passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, accepting the changes to the measure that the Senate had added. This bill marks a sea change in our government. Rather than focusing on dismantling the federal government and turning individuals loose to act as they wish, Congress has returned to the principles of the nation before 1981, using the federal government to support ordinary Americans. With its expansion of the child tax credit, the bill is projected to reach about 27 million children and to cut child poverty in half.

The bill, which President Biden is expected to sign Friday, is a landmark piece of legislation, reversing the trend of American government since Ronald Reagan’s 1981 tax cut. Rather than funneling money upward in the belief that those at the top will invest in the economy and thus create jobs for poorer Americans, the Democrats are returning to the idea that using the government to put money into the hands of ordinary Americans will rebuild the economy from the bottom up. This was the argument for the very first expansion of the American government—during Abraham Lincoln’s administration—and it was the belief on which President Franklin Delano Roosevelt created the New Deal.

Unlike the previous implementations of this theory, though, Biden’s version, embodied in the American Rescue Plan, does not privilege white men (who in Lincoln and Roosevelt’s day were presumed to be family breadwinners). It moves money to low-wage earners generally, especially to women and to people of color. Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) called the child tax credit “a new lifeline to the middle class.”  “Franklin Roosevelt lifted seniors out of poverty, 90 percent of them with Social Security, and with the stroke of a pen,” she said. “President Biden is going to lift millions and millions of children out of poverty in this country.”

Republican lawmakers all voted against the bill despite the fact that 76% of Americans, including 59% of Republicans, like the measure. Still, the disjunction between the bill’s popularity and their opposition to it put them in a difficult spot. Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) tweeted positively about the bill this evening, leaving the impression he had voted for it. Twitter users wanted no part of the deception, immediately calling him out for touting a bill he had opposed (although he had been a Republican co-sponsor of the amendment about which he was boasting).

Wicker’s public embrace of the measure after voting no suggests that Republicans might recognize that, without the power to stop popular legislation as they could previously, they need to consider getting on board with it.

For right now, though, Republicans are continuing to push tax cuts. Senators John Thune (R-SD) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are leading an effort to repeal the estate tax. According to Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times, this tax falls on estates over $11.7 million, about a fifth of which are worth $50 million or more. The average estate affected by the tax is worth $30 million, and it affects about 2,500 people a year. It is enacted on capital gains that have not been taxed during the original owner’s lifetime, and usually involves stock. While Crapo calls the tax “the most unfair tax on the books,” Hiltzik calls the attempt to eliminate it “a massive handout to rich families.”

It was not just finance in the news today. This afternoon, the Senate voted 70-30 to confirm Merrick Garland as the attorney general. He will be sworn in tomorrow. Biden chose Garland to rebuild faith in the independence of the Department of Justice, whose credibility was sorely battered over the past four years when it appeared to be operating in the interest of the president rather than the American people. Garland has a reputation as a fair-minded, centrist judge, but Republicans who voted against his confirmation—Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, for example—seem already to be trying to undercut Garland’s investigations, suggesting that he will embrace a “radical agenda” as attorney general.

As soon as Garland is sworn in tomorrow, he will be briefed by FBI Director Christopher Wray and others on the Capitol attack.

Garland’s was not the only nomination to go through today. Former representative Marcia Fudge (D-OH) is now the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Michael Regan is the new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, charged both with addressing environmental racism and with helping the nation fight climate change. With their addition, 6 of 24 Cabinet positions will be held by Black Americans, the most in U.S. history.

Amidst all the excitement about the Biden administration’s achievements today, the former president was also in the news. The Wall Street Journal obtained a recording of a phone call Trump made in December 2020 to Frances Watson, the chief investigator of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office. Watson was in the process of looking for fraud in an audit of mail-in ballots in Cobb County after the election. Trump urged her to look at Fulton County, as well, where he insisted she would “find things that are going to be unbelievable.”

Watson had little to say as Trump went on for about six minutes, and seemed to be trying to put him off. He didn’t seem to notice. “When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised,” the former president told her.

—-

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[whitecollarcrimelawyersdall-blog]

Best White Collar Crime Attorney In Fort Worth

WHITE-COLLAR CRIMINAL ACTIVITY

IN SPITE OF EFFORTS TO PUNISH ILLEGAL ACTIVITY, CRIMES LIKE SCAMS, BRIBERY, EMBEZZLEMENT, AND ALSO MONEY LAUNDERING ARE RAMPANT IN COMPANIES. WHAT TIPS CONTAINER LEADERS TAKE TO FIX THIS GROWING PROBLEM?

In the late summer of 2016 accusations that workers of Wells Fargo's retail banking device had opened greater than a million unapproved accounts and also marketed customers countless unnecessary products hit the national information. The scandal price Wells Fargo very much. On September 8 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (together with the Workplace of the Business Manager of the Currency as well as the City as well as Area of Los Angeles) fined the company $185 million-- as well as after revelations of even more consumer abuses came out, Wells Fargo would certainly later be fined an extra $1 billion and also pay out $575 million to resolve lawful cases. By the end of September, the financial institution's supply price had dropped 13%, lowering Wells Fargo's capitalization by some $20 billion, as well as it remained to stagnate while the marketplace rose. John Stumpf, who resigned as Chief Executive Officer that October, and Carrie Tolstedt, the head of the retail financial institution who had actually revealed her retired life that July, were compelled by the board to forfeit 10s of numerous dollars in pay. 4 of the system's senior managers were terminated for cause. Wells Fargo's reputation was left badly tarnished-- a humiliation for the 160-year-old institution.

Misconduct was widespread in the retail unit even though Wells Fargo had control and risk-management systems, which were overseen by its board of directors. So what went wrong? An investigation commissioned by the board found that a warped corporate culture, a decentralized organizational structure, and poor leadership were to blame. The postmortem revealed that much of the illegal behavior had been prompted by pressure to hit overly aggressive sales targets linked to bonuses and promotions. Management had received ample warning signs: From 2000 to 2004 the number of cases in which employees had gamed sales and compensation goals rose 10-fold, and critical articles that raised questions about the new accounts, the pressure on the sales force, and in creasing employee turnover had appeared in the Wall Street Journal in 2011 and the Los Angeles Times in 2013. Yet leaders of the retail bank had blamed a few bad employees for the problems. Accustomed to deferring to the business units, Stumpf simply accepted that explanation.

Unfortunately, the Wells Fargo saga is not unique. Attorney Check -- such as fraud, embezzlement, bribery, and money laundering-- have destroyed enormous amounts of shareholder value at companies like Alstom, Odebrecht, Petrobras, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, Telia, Teva Pharmaceutical, VimpelCom, and Volkswagen. In aggregate, the losses add up to billions of dollars. The legal penalties companies incur can be substantial: Siemens was hit with $1.6 billion in fines, Odebrecht $3.5 billion, and Volkswagen about $20 billion. And then there are the business costs: the time and energy that management must devote to cleaning up the mess and negotiating settlements rather than to beating rivals; the reputational damage; the impact on sales, profits, and stock price; declines in employee engagement and productivity; and increases in employee turnover. Research by the University of Washington's Jonathan Karpoff and others indicates that those costs swamp the legal penalties.

In response to high-profile cases and rising public concern, regulators in the United States and other countries have demanded that companies increase their efforts to deter wrongdoing. As a result, almost every multinational company now invests heavily in compliance and espouses zero tolerance of illegal behavior by employees. Yet in practice, increased regulation and controls alone do not guarantee that crimes are detected early or averted. Indeed, both anecdotal evidence and the data indicate that white-collar crime not only is still rampant but is actually rising. In a 2018 PwC survey, 49% of 7,228 organizations reported that they had experienced economic crime and fraud in the prior year-- up from 30% of organizations in a 2009 survey-- and that more than half the perpetrators were "internal actors." Meanwhile, stories about Attorney Check  -- including allegations that Goldman Sachs employees were involved in a multibillion-dollar fraud in Malaysia, that Deutsche Bank helped clients transfer money from criminal activities to tax havens, and that Airbus engaged in corrupt contracting practices-- continue to abound in the media.

The root cause of the problem isn't ineffective regulations and compliance systems, however. It's weak leadership and flawed corporate culture.

Indeed, our research reveals that many of the firms hit by major scandals had controls similar to their peers' and, like Wells Fargo, had received early warning signs of impending problems. But at each of those companies, a culture of making the numbers at all costs trumped any concerns about how the targets were being met.

For the past 10 years we've studied white-collar crime and explored how companies can create an environment that discourages it. We used data from individual companies and from surveys by PwC, Transparency International (an NGO founded in 1993 to combat corruption), the World Bank, executive recruiting firms, and other organizations. All told we looked at data on thousands of organizations and individuals. In addition, we interviewed more than 50 senior and middle managers at 10 organizations that had experienced scandals. And in our research we've found time and again that while compliance systems are important, leadership plays a critical role in shaping an organization's attitudes toward preventing crime and its responses when wrongdoing is detected. Yet all too often, executives abdicate responsibility.

A culture of making the numbers trumped any concerns about how targets were met.

In our interviews we heard a common sentiment: Senior executives at most companies that suffered highly publicized transgressions didn't see these incidents as their personal responsibility to address or as evidence that something was fundamentally amiss in their organizations. Rather, those leaders viewed them as extremely rare occurrences caused by "a few bad apples" and insisted that they couldn't have been prevented. Although the leaders accepted the importance of investing in compliance systems and said they expected employees to act with integrity, they typically saw outperforming competitors and wowing investors-- not enforcing high legal and ethical standards-- as their priorities. Even worse, all too many leaders overlooked questionable business practices or were lenient toward members of their old-boy networks who were caught committing crimes. That indifference trickled down to employees. It encouraged them to develop a "check the box" mentality: to satisfy training and reporting requirements without internalizing the standards that compliance programs are supposed to instill.

Our research also shows that the leaders who are effective in combating illicit employee behavior are deeply involved in setting social norms at their firms and in managing the risk of misconduct. They do so by broadcasting a clear message that crime hurts everyone in the organization. They do not make exceptions when they punish perpetrators. They recruit and promote managers who value integrity, and they create decision-making processes that reduce the opportunity for illegal or unethical acts. Finally, they go the extra mile in making their transactions in corrupt countries transparent, are proactive when it comes to cleaning up their industry's dirty practices, and support societal institutions that empower corporate accountability and honest business behavior.

Send the Message That Crime Doesn't Pay In our work we made two startling discoveries: Business obtained through illicit means adds little or nothing to the bottom line, and people across the company-- not just the perpetrators, their supervisors, and the CEO-- suffer when a crime is exposed. Leaders need to understand this and spread the word throughout their organizations.

Illegally acquired business isn't very profitable. In public, leaders of multinationals state that their companies do not tolerate corruption. But many turn a blind eye when people in their organizations pay bribes-- either directly or through local partners-- in developing economies where anticorruption laws are weakly enforced. Their rationale: "We have no choice. If we don't pay bribes, we won't be able to compete in those markets and will suffer financially."

The facts paint quite a different picture. Two cases in point are Siemens and SNC-Lavalin, engineering and construction companies that in the past 12 years were separately charged with bribery. Senior executives at those firms told us that audits conducted afterward revealed that the profits on the transactions involving the illicit payments were unexpectedly low-- largely because of the substantial cost of the bribes (as much as 10% of the contract value).

Those companies' experiences appear to be the rule, not the exception. In our research we looked at the financials of 480 multinationals that had been rated by Transparency International in 2006 on the anticorruption systems and activities disclosed in their annual reports and on their websites. When we compared their performance from 2007 through 2010, controlling for industry, host country, stock market listing, and other relevant factors, we found that the firms with poor anticorruption ratings had 5% higher annual sales growth in weakly regulated regions than firms with good ratings did. However, the multinationals with poor ratings also saw lower profitability on their sales growth in weakly regulated regions than their highly rated peers did. The profitability differences were comparable in magnitude to the bribes typically paid in those regions.

The extra sales growth generated by illicitly obtained business also doesn't boost shareholder value-- even if the bribes go undetected. Using standard valuation models, we found that among poorly rated firms, the increase in shareholder value from additional sales in weakly regulated regions was offset by lower profitability. Of course, if corrupt practices come to light, a company's reputation will suffer and its stock price will take a hit. That is no small risk: When we examined the data from 2007 to 2010, we found that companies with poor anticorruption ratings had a 28% higher likelihood of having a scandal break in the media.

Don't Play Favorites To make it clear to everyone that they really mean it when they say illicit behavior will not be tolerated, leaders must respond decisively to crimes, dismissing and taking legal action against all perpetrators on a uniform basis. Yet anecdotal evidence and our research show that many leaders fail to do this.

Siemens permitted managers caught paying bribes in Italy to retire with full pensions, and it paid a $1.6 million settlement to the departing CFO responsible for overseeing the contract involved. The #MeToo movement's spotlight on harassment and assault faced by women has brought to light numerous cases in which corporate leaders, and in some cases boards, allowed senior male executives to remain in their jobs despite multiple allegations that they had abused female employees. And leaders of the Roman Catholic Church treated clergy accused of child molestation leniently, often by moving them to other parishes rather than expelling them or supporting their prosecution.

To examine whether that kind of permissiveness is pervasive in business, we analyzed the punishments companies gave to perpetrators of white-collar crimes. We used data from a PwC survey that asked firms about their experiences with crime in 2011, including data on the nature of the offenses, punishments, and main-perpetrator demographics. Of the 3,877 firms responding, 608 reported detecting white-collar crimes by employees that year. When we looked at the most serious crime each firm reported, we found that 42% of the main perpetrators had been dismissed or left the organization and faced legal action, 46% had been dismissed with no legal action, and 13% remained with the organization (with or without a transfer or warning). The low rate of legal action against the perpetrators most likely reflects the practical challenges of prosecuting white-collar criminals: Evidence that an individual committed an act doesn't suffice; there also has to be proof that he or she intended to commit it or had knowledge of wrongdoing. Given the potential penalties and reputational risks to companies, corporate attorneys often advise executives to quietly dismiss perpetrators without any legal action.

Treating perpetrators leniently, however, sends a message to potential offenders that crime pays or isn't risky, and it also damages the morale of honest employees. At several companies plagued by crime, the employees we interviewed expressed frustration over their leadership's unwillingness to remove senior managers accused of wrongdoing; the employees said it hurt morale and led some people to quit.

Another troubling finding of our research was the uneven pattern of punishment. Controlling for the type of crime and its magnitude, our analysis of the PwC data revealed that perpetrators who were junior managers or staff members were 24% more likely to face legal action and dismissal than perpetrators who were senior executives. Even when crimes were similar, senior executives were more likely to be given a warning or an internal transfer, and junior managers were more likely to be dismissed.

Undoubtedly, leaders are more reluctant to fire a senior executive because of his or her relationships with customers or the belief that the person's expertise will be difficult to replace. But our findings about how women are treated relative to men suggest that this is not the full story and that cronyism and favoritism are significant factors. Senior women, who are often seen as outsiders in informal male social networks and are less likely to have close personal relationships with the male decision makers who determine punishments, are disciplined more severely than senior men who've committed crimes of the same type and magnitude.

Most senior executives were given warnings; most junior managers were dismissed.

Companies operating in countries with greater workforce gender inequality (such as India, Turkey, Middle Eastern nations, Indonesia, and Italy) were also more likely to impose harsher punishments on senior women than on senior men. In addition, we found that punishments were harsher for senior women at firms that had a weaker commitment to internal controls and that failed to report crimes to regulators, thereby making it easier to respond to them inconsistently.

The obvious remedy is to create and religiously enforce a policy of punishing everyone equally. That's what Erik Osmundsen did at Norsk Gjenvinning (NG), a Norwegian waste management company. Soon after being appointed CEO, in 2012, he set out to eliminate widespread fraud, theft, and corruption at the firm. He created a set of values that included behaving like a responsible entrepreneur-- one who did not cut corners-- and being a team player within both the company and society. The values were translated into specific codes of conduct for each job, which every employee had to agree to follow. The company then implemented a four-week amnesty period, during which employees could confess any transgressions they had performed or witnessed. After that, nobody was forgiven for any infraction. Altogether about 170 operating and staff managers-- roughly half the total-- left the firm over the next 18 months. The vast majority chose to quit; a handful were fired. (See "We Were Coming Up Against Everything from Organized Crime to Angry Employees," HBR, July-- August 2019.).

Recruit Leaders with a Record of Integrity. To change the culture of a company plagued by systemic crime, you need to bring in new leaders with a reputation for honesty. If the industry itself is rife with corruption, it may be necessary to hire executives from other industries, who will have a different perspective and are likely to shake up the status quo.

Siemens replaced Klaus Kleinfeld, who had stepped down as CEO during the bribery investigation, with Peter Löscher, an executive from the pharmaceutical industry. One key factor in Löscher's appointment, cited in the press release (in a rare move for such announcements), was "his upright character." Recognizing the challenges in changing the culture at Siemens, Löscher brought in from the outside several senior managers whom he had worked with previously and who he knew had high integrity. They included Andreas Pohlmann as chief compliance officer and Peter Solmssen as general counsel and member of the management board. Both men, along with Barbara Kux, who came in as chief sustainability officer and member of the management board, played a critical role in developing a plan to address the problems at the company and reform its culture. (See "The CEO of Siemens on Using a Scandal to Drive Change," HBR, November 2012.).

Since NG's problems were endemic to the waste management industry, Osmundsen opted to recruit fresh blood from outside it (from building materials, aluminum, retail, oil and gas, and soft drink firms). He persuaded people to join NG with his vision of making it a model green company-- one that, by pursuing innovative approaches to waste management, could play a significant role in furthering environmental sustainability. In the short term, employee turnover hurt the company's financial performance. But within three years it had recovered financially and was well-positioned for more-profitable growth.

Require Employees to Make Tough Decisions in Groups. When Statoil, a Norwegian energy company (recently renamed Equinor), established a large market presence in Angola, its executives and board recognized that its employees would face pressure to pay bribes there. (Transparency International has ranked Angola one of the most corrupt countries.) To reduce the likelihood that they would succumb, the company's leaders ordered employees to make decisions in groups. This was a direct result of Statoil's experiences in Iran. In 2004 and 2006 the company agreed to pay fines in Norway and the United States, respectively, for bribing a government official to secure a contract in Iran (though the firm neither admitted nor denied guilt). A senior executive told us that one lesson from that scandal was that employees were much more likely to cut corners and do the wrong thing when they made calls on their own.

Making a tough decision in a group requires people to have open and honest discussions, and that doesn't happen automatically. Employees must have faith that other group members are committed to hearing and valuing their opinions and that the firm's leaders will support the group's decisions, even if they have adverse financial consequences. If leaders don't inspire that trust, simply relegating decisions to groups is unlikely to solve the problem. Research by our Harvard colleague Amy Edmondson has shown that it takes strong leadership to create a climate of psychological safety. Leaders must actively promote the behaviors they expect people throughout the organization to adopt-- by, for example, showing that it's OK to ask tough questions and express dissenting views, empowering frontline employees to speak frankly to their superiors about signs of potential trouble, being candid about the organization's past errors and openly discussing them, and acknowledging their own ignorance about a topic or area of expertise.

Champion Transparency. After Statoil's bribery charge, Helge Lund, its new CEO at the time, decided that the company would become one of the first firms in an extractive industry to publicly disclose the payments they made to foreign governments to gain access to countries' natural resources-- a practice that regulators and public interest groups had long advocated for. This decision sent a strong message to employees that the old ways of conducting business would no longer be tolerated.

Supporting institutions that investigate and report on corruption is another way that leaders can demonstrate to employees that they're serious about conducting business in an ethical fashion. The work of these organizations promotes fair competition and increases the public's confidence that business crimes are detected and punished; and to the extent that it reduces corruption, it stimulates economic development.

Statoil became one of the original members of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which aims to bring together companies, governments, and NGOs to reduce corruption in resource-rich countries and increase transparency about payments by oil, gas, and mining companies there. Over time participation in the initiative has steadily increased, and while early EITI reports provided aggregate information on company payments and country revenues, the latest frequently include detailed company disclosures of payments. Collective action appears to be moving things in the right direction: Our empirical research, analyzing data from 186 countries over more than 10 years, suggests that countries with EITI reporting have experienced a significant decrease in corruption, especially those that began with high levels of it.

At Siemens, Löscher and Solmssen reached out to competitors, governments, NGOs, and other stakeholder groups to make a case for broader reform. In 2009, as part of its settlement with the World Bank for its past misconduct, the company agreed to spend $100 million over 15 years to support organizations and projects fighting corruption through collective action, education, and training. By the end of 2017, it had made $73 million in grants for 55 projects. In addition, Siemens became a member of the World Economic Forum's Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), which includes 87 major companies.

Transparency International and the World Bank (which created a program to fight corruption in 1996) both are active in educating and informing companies and the public. These organizations support research on corruption and regularly rate countries on perceptions of the extent of their public-sector corruption.

Business leaders serious about combating crime can and should support journalists.

Another institution that plays an important role is the media. Smaller organizations that report on corruption are emerging beside the major news outlets. For example, the FCPA Blog publishes news, commentary, and research findings to help compliance professionals, business leaders, and others understand how anticorruption laws work, how corruption arises, and how it affects people and organizations. In Russia, Alexey Navalny operates RosPil, a nonprofit at which a small group of lawyers investigate and report on potential incidents of corruption. In India, Ramesh and Swati Ramanathan have created ipaidabribe.com to provide a platform for people to report incidents when they've been asked to pay a bribe.

Research by Aymo Brunetti of the University of Bern and Beatrice Weder of the Graduate Institute Geneva confirms what you would expect: A free press lowers corruption. But press freedom is under attack: Hostility toward the media is no longer limited to authoritarian countries; it has spread to democratic nations, where efforts to threaten and delegitimize the media are on the rise, according to Reporters Without Borders, an NGO that publishes the annual World Press Freedom Index. Business leaders serious about combating corruption can and should support journalists, by publicly recognizing their legitimacy and defending them when they come under attack.

CONCLUSION. In large organizations, mistakes will be made. The world is a messy place, and humans are imperfect. But by creating a culture that encourages employees to act ethically and legally, leaders can minimize the likelihood that a scandal will hit their company and increase its ability to bounce back from any illicit actions that do occur. To set the right tone, leaders have to model high standards in both their professional and personal lives.

All too many leaders still fail to continually stress the importance of organizational integrity. They either underinvest in compliance systems or have a check-the-box mentality toward risk management and delegate the responsibility to lawyers and accountants. Red flags go unheeded. When crimes are detected, they're dealt with quietly and unequally. These leaders justify their behavior by saying, "Corruption is an industry problem that we can not fix," "It's the way business is conducted in these countries," or "We can't afford to lose the business.".

In contrast, other leaders, many operating in high-risk countries or sketchy industries, set high standards and practice what they preach. They don't just install strong compliance systems; they also support training programs and performance-feedback and whistle-blowing systems; create an atmosphere where it's psychologically safe to speak up when something seems wrong; and engage their industry peers to fight corruption together. Our research indicates that organizations with such leaders don't pay a high financial price for their integrity. Although they may not grow as quickly as their less-scrupulous peers, their growth is more profitable.

Then there are the less widely discussed benefits. Many employees who have chosen to work at high-integrity companies in high-risk countries and industries have told us that they did so because of those firms' values. Some people even told us that they accepted lower pay from those employers. Such companies and their leaders have the respect of their customers, regulators, and communities. They are more likely to prosper and endure.

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A How-to-Guide for Selecting a Tax Lawyer for Your Business

Today, taxation is a crucial function of the government that businesses cannot ignore.  If you have a corporate business, you are required to file and pay your business tax obligations on time.  If you fail to do so, you may get in trouble.  A business will face a compulsory audit of which you will be penalized thereafter or even get some criminal investigation.  Hence, if you want to avoid such problems, it is crucial to hire a tax lawyer to handle these issues.  Since tax law is complex and their regulations always change, you may easily get confused.  This article highlights a how-to-guide for hiring the right tax attorney los angeles to suit your needs.

To start with, you must check the lawyer’s domain expertise.  Since you will be dealing with a case by the IRS, you have to hire a specific lawyer who is focused.  Just like any other field, law is normally specific when it comes to domains, and hence you need to hire a lawyer in the tax niche.  From the start of your research, you must prioritize lawyers who deal with matters of tax.  This will ensure that you get the best lawyer who has a better customer experience.

You must also verify their track record and experience.  Although their domain matters greatly, you have to go a step further to verify the lawyer’s track record and experience.  The attorney must have hands-on experience with such tax issues because this assures you that the attorney is capable of dealing with the case better.  In addition, they should have been in the industry for several years and handled such cases before.  Also, find out the number of cases that they have won since this adds to their experience and confidence. 

On the other hand, you must verify their credentials and academic qualifications.  When hiring a tax lawyer, you must be sure of their credentials.  Get to check their business website and also the lawyer’s site.  Again, the local bar association usually posts their details on their website.  Hence, you can get a lot of information about the lawyer from different places.

You must also try to check their communication skills and customer care services.  When you interact with them in the first initial consultation meeting, you can judge their skills in communication.  They must be willing to explain the tax jargon to you in a way that you can understand. Follow this link for more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_advisor.

[rhyspants13]

Haven’t received your W-2 or 1099? Incorrect W-2 or 1099? Follow These 3 Important Steps

What if you haven’t received your W-2 or 1099 or you have an incorrect W-2 or 1099? 

You’ve been strategizing all year and compiling all of your tax forms since January.  You waited for most of February for that one missing document…your W-2 or 1099 from your company.  Shouldn’t I have it by now, you ask.  The answer is YES.  What can you do about it?

Under federal law, employers must send employees their W-2’s by January 31st of each year.    Similarly, companies with independent contractors must provide 1099 forms by January 31st.

W-2s or 1099’s are also filed with the IRS.  The purpose for this is to inform of the wages or non-employee compensation a worker has earned and how much Social Security and Medicare taxes were withheld.

If you still have not received your W-2 or 1099 or it needs to be corrected, follow these important steps:

#1: Call your company

There may have been a simple mailing mistake so call your company’s payroll or human resources department.   It could be as simple as getting your new address.  They can also email you or possibly provide your W-2 or 1099 in a secure portal on their website.

If there is an error on the W-2 or 1099 you did receive, contact your company and let them know in detail why it is incorrect.  If they agree with the error, they can issue a corrected W-2 or corrected 1099.  These corrections will go to the IRS and to you so the records all match. Be sure to let your company know the correction is urgent.

#2: Contact the IRS

If your company fails to provide you with your W-2, it is time to get help from the IRS.   They can contact your company (if you haven’t received after February 14th) and inquire as to the missing W-2.  They can be reached at (800) 829-1040. Be sure to have the following information when you call:

company or payer name, address and phone number

dates of employment

federal tax withholding estimate of your W-2. This can be found on the last W-2 pay stub.

Form 1099’s are not necessary for filing, like a W-2 is, so calling the IRS is not necessary.  Just refer to your own records if you have a missing 1099.

#3: File your tax return

If your company provided you with the documentation you requested, obviously file by the April 15 due date.  If you still don’t receive your W-2, the IRS will send you form 4852, IRS substitute to Form W-2.  You will prepare this form and file it with your tax return. To complete Form 4852, You can use your pay stubs to insert the figures necessary.

Tax Resolution

Be aware that you may finally receive the missing or corrected Form W-2 or 1099 after you filed your return.  If you made a mistake on your Form 4852 that you need to correct, or if the 1099 amount you reported is agreed incorrect, you’ll need to file a 1040X amended tax return.  You may face an IRS audit if it isn’t corrected.

Not receiving timely W-2’s or 1099’s are actually a common problem so don’t feel alone. Many companies go out of business, merge or are purchased by another firm or just have terrible bookkeeping.  Some companies are also victims of fraudulent or incompetent payroll employees or payroll companies.

If you unfortunately incur tax debt due to a 1099 you overlooked and receive an underreporter notice, called a CP2000 notice, there are options such as IRS installment agreements and IRS settlements (known as offer in compromise).

Taxpayers needing tax resolution help with missing or incorrect W-2’s or 1099’s should seek the advice of a tax attorney.  The Attorneys at Delia Law have many years of tax relief experience and will competently represent you before the IRS.

Please call for a no-cost tax attorney consultation for tax resolution. Our attorneys are available to serve you in San Diego, Orange County and Los Angeles.  We are also available nationwide.  We look forward to helping you.

This blog post is not intended as legal advice and should be considered general information only.

The post Haven’t received your W-2 or 1099? Incorrect W-2 or 1099? Follow These 3 Important Steps appeared first on Delia Tax Attorneys Southern California IRS tax lawyers.

Source: https://deliataxattorneys.com/havent-received-your-w-2-or-1099-incorrect-w-2-or-1099-follow-these-3-important-steps/

[virginiaprelawland]

What Influence And Ego Can Do To An Attorney: Tom Girardi

By Elizabeth Wolnik, George Mason University Class of 2024

November 11, 2022

Tom Girardi, an attorney with 40 years of experience in California, has been found guilty of embezzling funds from his clients’ trust accounts [1]. Girardi was praised when he became the first trial lawyer to be appointed to the California Judicial Counsel [4], but now faces a series of lawsuits owing $101 million in debt [3]. The California State Bar has received 205 complaints against Girardi over the course of his career, but they did not act until March 2021 when they suspended him from the practice of law. Around this time, Girardi was also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and was placed under a court-ordered conservatorship. Officials had closed many of the complaints against Girardi without doing any investigation and rejected more for having “insufficient evidence”. This left Girardi’s public reputation of defending the underdog unblemished for decades. 120 of these complaints involved client trust accounts, where lawyers keep their clients’ money. These trust accounts are bound by strict regulations, but it was found that Girardi’s law firm, Girardi Keese, violated these regulations many times [2].

By July 2021, Girardi was finally disbarred by the California State Supreme Court. Girardi began practicing law in 1965, but complaints did not start until 1982 [1]. Throughout the years, Girardi used his influence to cultivate a group around him of State Bar officials, investigators, prosecutors, and judges and would offer them free representation in court, high-end parties, and private plane rides. By using his power, officials failed to discipline Girardi in a proper and public manner. Girardi was also a force to be reckoned with in politics and popular culture. He was a well-known Democratic party donor, and he married Erika Jayne who appeared in “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills”. A state audit revealed that the California State Bar used confidential warning letters and kept a poor track record of preventing conflicts of interest between lawyers and staff. This was not a sufficient form of discipline for Girardi, as his career continued to grow with thousands of clients a year despite his theft from them [1].

One of the major complaints came from a man named Christian Keith [1]. In 1985 when Keith was a teenager, he was in a car crash and suffered serious brain injuries. Girardi ended up representing Keith’s family and won a settlement of more than $2 million. Girardi also promised the family that he would use the settlement money to buy an annuity, which is a fixed stream of income to be paid to an individual, but he never did. This resulted in a large tax bill that the family was not prepared to pay for and many questions of where the money had gone. The State Bar closed the case four years later stating it was resolved in a non-public fashion, which could mean anything from a private agreement, an admonition, or a letter of warning. The mother of Christian Keith, Sharon, states like many others that Girardi should be publicly accused, and not just punished behind closed doors. An attorney for the Los Angeles Times, Kelli Sage expressed that, “This information must be disclosed for the public to evaluate its performance and the steps needed to ensure that this kind of ‘serious failure’ does not happen again." [1].

Girardi was caught in his decades long embezzlement scheme when a Chicago law firm notified a federal judge that there was $2 million missing in settlement money [1]. The Chicago law firm, Edelson PC and the Girardi Keese firm had initially come together to represent the families impacted by the Lion Air flight crash of 2018 [5]. 189 people were killed on this flight when a flaw in the plane’s stabilization program caused it to crash shortly after takeoff [6]. After an investigation, it was found that Girardi had misappropriated the settlement funds that were meant for the case [5]. Because of this, the Edelson PC drafted a proposal to compensate their former clients and the family members from the Lion Air flight case in the full amount Girardi stole, as well as any surplus money recovered on their claims. In exchange, the clients will turn over any related claims they have against Girardi and anyone who assisted him. This proposal was successful of paying back the clients in full as of August 2022. Alex Tievsky, a lawyer at the Edelson PC states, “For our firm, the idea that the Lion Air families would be left waiting and wondering if Tom Girardi would be able to pay their restitution was simply unacceptable. They have already been through more than any family should have to bear. We have reimbursed them for the full amount that they lost, and we are going to pursue the people we believe to be responsible on our own.” [6].

There are others who appear to be caught up in this embezzlement situation other than Girardi. His now estranged wife Erika Jayne has been accused of encouraging Girardi to use the settlement money to fund her extravagant lifestyle [3], but Jayne has denied any knowledge of using the funds for that reason [6]. Ex Chief Financial Officer of Girardi Keese, Christopher Kamon, has recently been charged with a federal count of wire fraud and is being held in jail without bond [8]. The complaint that was filed pertaining to Kamon states that the wire fraud happened in September of 2020. Because Kamon oversaw Girardi Keese’s finances including the client trust accounts, he understood Girardi was stealing from them [8]. As of November 10, 2022, Kamon has been found guilty of stealing more than $10 million from the Girardi Keese client trust accounts [9]. Jay Edelson, who was a part of the Lion Air case also alleges that David Lira, Girardi’s son-in-law, and Keith Griffin were cooperating on the embezzlement scheme alongside Girardi [8].

The public is shocked as to how this scheme had gone on for so long, costing many clients of Girardi Keese to lose money. U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin commented that Girardi’s actions are “a stain on the legal profession and, due to the international nature of this case, have damaged the reputation of the American legal system.” [2]. The California State Bar has acknowledged the public outrage and has begun to implement new changes [1]. In a new program, attorneys will be required to report basic information about all their client trust accounts on an annual basis, and they will also have to distribute their clients’ money within certain timeframes provided that there is no dispute over the funds. The California State Bar also hired a new chief trial counsel and former federal prosecutor, George Cardona. Cardona was the top prosecutor at the California agency in a decade to be confirmed by the state Senate [1]. While California is the first state to have a legal scandal this widespread, it is a sign for every state to ensure that their attorneys are acting in the most ethical manner possible while aiming to do the most for their clients. The failures of Tom Girardi should be a lesson for any current or future lawyer to keep their ego in check and to be honest in the practice of law.

______________________________________________________________

[1] https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-11-03/california-state-bar-40-years-complaints-tom-girardi

[2] https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/revealing-205-complaints-against-tom-girardi-in-40-years-california-state-bar-says-it-could-have-done-more-about-now-disbarred-lawyer/

[3] https://pagesix.com/2022/11/03/tom-girardi-wasnt-disbarred-despite-hundreds-of-complaints/

[4] https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/thomas-girardi/

[5] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/edelson-pc-pitches-way-to-repay-lion-air-families-missing-money

[6] https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2022/8/11/lion-air-victims-compensated-after-lawyer-accused-of-stealing-settlement

[7] https://www.calbar.ca.gov/Portals/0/documents/Open-Letter-Girardi-Disclosure-11-03-22.pdf

[8] https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/ex-money-boss-for-tom-girardis-bankrupt-law-firm-jailed-on-federal-wire-fraud-charge/

[9] https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ex-girardi-cfo-ordered-held-without-bail-on-wire-fraud-charge

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Visit this website to get to know more about the tax attorney Los Angeles defending you against the IRS: https://www.pmvlaw.com/. A fully trained and experienced tax attorney Orange County firm offers more value than just tax consulting services. Tax attorney Riverside associates can represent clients during an IRS audit, as post tax assessment council, as well as stand as your defense during tax court litigations for a fair trial ruling.

[losangelesleftygayvoters]

General Election Voters Guide

Vote November 6, 2018

(By and for somewhat Lefty Queers and Allies to that effect).

October 27, 2018 Updates in Blue.

Prepared by: Phil Buiser, Chris Fajardo, Marc Valera, Ella Gabriel, Gabriela Garbim, Zac Hug, Ryan Quinn, Jay Marcus, Kevin Kelly and (updated to include) Ed Center.

Below is the combined effort of 9 10 queer people of varying race, sexualities, and gender identities. We split up the work of researching the various judgeships and candidates and assessor jobs over the course of a few weeks, consulted relevant publications, and where possible, the words and records of the candidates themselves. Then we spent quite a while discussing them debate team style and wrote them up here. As always, we encourage you to vote your conscience. Also your ballot may vary from ours in some cases as we’re mostly West Hollywood and Los Angeles/Hollywood based.

The below offers a perspective that’s fairly liberal, definitely blue state, and skewing toward LGBT rights a little heavier than others. Notably, this year we were lucky enough to gain the help of two immigrant queer types who are both green card holders. They can’t yet vote, but contributed invaluably to this document and honestly we’re prouder of them than we are of any turd you can’t convince to go and vote on November 6th. Seriously, get those kids out there.

New this year is a cheat sheet here at the top with a quick view of our picks. Our somewhat windy analysis follows.

QuickView of The Candidates we Chose:

Governor: Gavin Newsom (D)

Lieutenant Governor: Ed Hernandez (D)

Secretary of State: Alex Padilla (D)

Controller: Betty Yee (D)

US State Representative: Adam B. Schiff (D)

Treasurer: Fiona Ma

Attorney General: Xavier Becerra (D)

Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara (D)

United States Senator: Dianne Feinstein (D)

State Senator, 26th District: Ben Allen (D)

50th District State Assembly: Richard Bloom (D)

The Judiciary:

For the Judiciary, we advocate a NO vote on Justice Carol A. Corrigan for her nonsensical and partisan take on Prop 8 (She IS, in fact, the one you’ve seen go by on the socials). Update on October 27: We have also updated our take on Justice Willhite and can’t advocate a HARD yes for him, but a “vote your conscience.” See this link for details. For ANY OTHER JUDGE, we were fine with a YES vote, much in line with this article from the LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/editorials/la-ed-endorsement-justices-20181004-story.html.

Races where Judges are running against each other:

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 60: Holly L. Hancock

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No.4: A. Veronica Sauceda

Judge of Superior Court, Office No. 16: Patricia (Patti) Hunter

Judge of the Superior Court, Office No. 113: Javier Perez

City and County Races:

School Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony K Thurmond Marshall Tuck

(UPDATED October 27, 2018 - see below for details)

County Assessor: Jeffrey Prang

County Sheriff: Jim McDonnell

Member State Board of Equalization, 3rd District: Sigh, probably Tony Vazquez, but we legit nearly voted Republican on this one.

Ballot Measures:

STATE MEASURE 1: YES

STATE MEASURE 2: YES

STATE MEASURE 3: YES

STATE MEASURE 4: YES

STATE MEASURE 5: NO

STATE MEASURE 6: NO

STATE MEASURE 7: YES

STATE MEASURE 8: NO

STATE MEASURE 10: YES

STATE MEASURE 11: YES

STATE MEASURE 12: YES

City Amendment B: YES

City Amendment E: YES

LAUSD Charter Amendment EE: YES

County Measure W: YES

ANALYSIS & RESEARCH ON CANDIDATES BELOW:

FOR ANALYSIS/BIOS OF THE JUDICIARY RACES, CLICK HERE.

FOR ANALYSIS/RESEARCH OF EACH OF THE BALLOT MEASURES, CLICK HERE.

Governor: Gavin Newsom

Ah! In the age of Trump, at least it’s still great to be a Californian. We live in a state where we can kick off a voter guide by saying: Former SF mayor Gavin Newsom is the clear choice to carry on Jerry Brown’s progressive legacy and expand on it. Newsom is pro-environment, pro-LGBT and women’s rights, and anti-gun. As SF mayor, he challenged state and federal prohibitions and was aggressive in the fight to begin same-sex marriages, proving that he’s been a reliable progressive advocate from the start. In his own words, he’s running to be “the head of the resistance.”

Keep in mind that, aside from driving policy, the governor (like the president) appoints State Supreme Court and Court of Appeals justices. Newsom is likely to appoint justices who will be judicious and liberal-leaning, while his opponent, Republican John Cox, would likely adopt the conservative plan to flood courts with Federalist Society lackeys. California has been a leading check on the Trump administration, and Cox would reverse that stance in addition to derailing the progress Jerry Brown has brought to California. To keep California progressive, and to keep California as a check on Trump, elect Gavin Newsom governor.

Lieutenant Governor: Ed Hernandez (D)

The fact that this race is listed second on the ballot gives it an air of importance, but it really should be listed dead last. Why? Because lieutenant governor does absolutely nothing. It’s where politicians fill a seat while they’re in between jobs, like, say, between being SF mayor and running for higher office. The only way the lieutenant governor becomes relevant is if the governor is incapacitated. And for that reason, we must take this race seriously. Because, well, pipe bombs for God’s sake.

Despite its seemingly low stakes, this race has split Democrats. Both candidates are Dems, thanks to California’s primary system, and both have solid progressive endorsements. But we’re giving the edge to Ed Hernandez, “whose work with underserved communities and poor patients on Medi-Cal ultimately sparked his interest in state government.” He was elected and served in the State Assembly and State Senate, where he just termed out. His opponent, Eleni Kounalakis, served as US ambassador to Hungary under President Obama, who has endorsed her in this race, along with other prominent Democrats like Kamala Harris. But Kounalakis is a major Democratic donor, and we’re a little suspicious that may be the reason that so many elected Democrats have endorsed her. Endorsements aside, Kounalakis has never held elected office, so Ed Hernandez is the better pick to fill in as governor, if necessary. Again, as we always say, we’re willing to be wrong. Vote your conscience.

Secretary of State: Alex Padilla (D)

If you’ve consulted this guide in past elections, you’ll remember that we’ve voted for Padilla several times before. In fact, that’s why he’s the incumbent. He’s vocal about the need for transparency in how money changes hands in government, he’s a big civil rights advocate, endorsed by all the gay groups you want him to be, he’s a big DREAM Act supporter, and he’s more obsessed with voter accessibility than one could ask for--up to an including the support of automatic voter registration. Basically, Padilla wants you to vote and be an American and a Californian, no matter who you are. We’re in.

The other guy, Mark Meuser, is pretty mum on civil rights, except to say that we “really need to clean up California’s voter rolls.” He’s also spent time insisting that we need less dead people voting. Who needs dog whistles when we have Mark Meuser? Knock it off, Mark, those are not actual problems in the real world.

Controller: Betty Yee (D)

The controller oversees the state’s bill-paying, including payrolls for state government and the California State University system. The office also audits state agencies and departments as well as lower levels of government, such as school districts, cities, and water authorities. The controller also sits on about seventy boards and commissions, a range of financing authorities, and the boards of the state’s two largest public employee pension systems. Think of all the meetings she/he has to sit through!

Betty Yee is the incumbent, currently finishing up her fourth year on the job, where she has built a track record that is universally endorsed. Yee was instrumental in calling out the corruption and nepotism problems with the Board of Equalization, leading to Governor Brown stripping the board of most of its power. Yee has not only shown a dedication to making a positive impact, but her actions back up her intentions.

Yee’s opponent, Roditis, is a businessman/CFO who has little public service history, no statewide name recognition, and comparatively few donors. His muddy vision of what he would like to do in office makes us wonder if he even knows how the position actually works.

US State Representative: Adam B. Schiff (D)

Adam Schiff is the incumbent and is currently serving his ninth term in the US House of Representatives. He is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, where he’s been a crucial check on Trump and House Republicans who have tried to interfere with the investigation of Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election. His opponent, Nalbandian, is a Republican businessman who has never served in the government before, openly campaigned for Trump in 2016, believes in all of Trump’s ideologies, and thinks he can turn this country around. Yeah, nope. Nice try, Nalbandian. We’re wif Schiff!

Treasurer: Fiona Ma

This is the state’s banker—the head person who manages the state’s investments and administers the sale of state bonds and notes. The treasurer serves on several commissions, mostly related to marketing bonds, and pays out state funds that are spent by the state controller. Fiona Ma is a CPA with experience in tax law and balancing budgets. She speaks often of accountability and transparency, which seem pretty vital for anyone dealing with large sums of money. She’s worked at the local and state level during the course of the Great Recession. Some issues she wants to focus on include affordable housing programs, alleviating high student loan debts, making quality affordable healthcare more accessible (she was born with a preexisting health condition), investing in first responders (her hubby’s a firefighter), and protecting the environment. She also has the support of her majesty, Senator Kamala Harris, among others, and has spoken up plenty about equal rights for woman, people of color, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ folks, vets, and the homeless. As a member of the Board of Equalization, she was instrumental in sparking an investigation into a scandal involving nepotism and improper use of civil servants for political purposes by her fellow board members. The scrutiny culminated in a 2017 law that stripped the Board of Equalization of nearly all of its duties and staff, leaving it with only the core duties required under the state Constitution.

Greg Conlon, on the other hand, seems bitter and disappointed in big government. He speaks a lot about fixing California’s “broken economy” and “getting the job done”. He served as an Air Force pilot, so I imagine some vets will relate to him, but most of the time he just comes across as a begrudging old white man who didn’t get his way. If only we had more of those! Also, he wants to change the state constitution so that the controller and treasurer are appointed by the governor, rather than the people. Maybe that’s because this is his third run for treasurer and he’s never received more than 40% of the vote. Burn.

Attorney General: Xavier Becerra (D)

Becerra led California into suing, or joining other states in suing, the Trump administration seventeen times in 2017 alone and more than forty times total since being appointed, which is reason enough to get our vote. But looking at what those 2017 lawsuits include tells you what’s important to him: four suits against Trump’s immigration policies, including a suit over his efforts to end DACA; a suit over Trump’s ban on our transgender brothers, sisters, and friends serving in the military; a suit against a policy that would allow insurance companies to withhold coverage to women for birth control; and eight suits over the softening or dissolving of environmental regulations, earning him the title “The Planet’s Lawyer” from grist.com.

Bacerra has earned a shit-ton of endorsements from people we’re fond of including Kamala Harris and Jerry Brown, as well as the California Legislative Black and Latino Caucuses, which represent two of the population’s most vulnerable to violence and injustice suffered at the hands of law enforcement. As our sitting attorney general, Becerra has had a direct hand in shaping the behavior of law enforcement agencies, so endorsements from these caucuses should mean something to all of us. He’s also endorsed by the LA Times, which calls their endorsement a “monumentally easy call” for the above reasons, but also because Bailey, Becerra’s opponent, is a political asshole running on a platform that has California generally standing down against Trump administration policies across the board. He favors the “Three Strikes” law mandating a twenty-five-years-to-life sentence for people committing their third felony, including felonies as minor as drug possession and dealing. The “Three Strikes” law is a disaster. It inherently discriminates by race, and it feeds the prison-industrial complex, causing mass incarceration. Bailey’s endorsements alone are a big fat fuck no: the NRA and California Pro-Life, to highlight two. And oh, yeah—he’s facing twelve counts of judicial misconduct from the State Commission on Judicial Performance. Charming.

Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara (D)

The Insurance Commissioner’s job is to oversee the state agency that enforces insurance laws and investigates health care fraud. Therefore, whoever sits in this chair will have Californians’ backs against large insurance companies. We like Sen. Ricardo Lara, the first openly gay person of color to serve in the State Senate. Lara has spent his entire legislative career being a strong consumer advocate, and he is part of a new wave of progressive Democrats, endorsed by Sen. Kamala Harris and more aligned with Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom than Gov. Jerry Brown. He is a supporter of the “Health4all” coalition, which proposes to expand Medi-Cal to all income-eligible California residents, regardless of their immigration status. And he believes the state needs a universal health care system, now that the Trump administration is trying to tear down Obamacare.

Meanwhile, Steve Poizner, tech entrepreneur, held the position as a Republican from 2007-2011. Poizner strongly opposed illegal immigration back when he ran for governor, and he blamed undocumented immigrants for many of the state’s problems. He believes the state should get more involved in the new market of cyber insurance and climate insurance. Both candidates agree on the need to deal with the growing threat of wildfires, by making sure companies pay off on claims and educating residents on the need to make sure they keep their home insurances up to date after they make improvements. In recent, polls, Poizner had a slight lead with many voters still undecided. We’ve decided on Lara.

United States Senator: Dianne Feinstein (D)

Well, the good news is that the Dems are gonna win this battle between an outspoken progressive and a little old lady who’s had the job for decades and has done . . . mostly all right. Feinstein is endorsed by the LA Times, Obama, Biden, Kamala Harris, and Barbara Boxer, and a boatload of congressmen and congresswomen. That establishment backing has her up on DeLeon by twenty-four points. But geez, we wish she was more progressive. For example, she’s not for single-payer health care, and she’s been for the death penalty.

DeLeon, on the other hand, who is the California State Senate president pro tem, got the endorsement from the state Democratic party by calling them all up and asking for it, while Feinstein took it for granted from Washington. There’s a LOT to like about DeLeon. He’s the son of an immigrant, progressive in all those progressive-y good ways, and hungry to take on idiot Republicans in Congress.

So what’s a progressive voter to do? For the most uninspiring of reasons, we’re going with DiFi. Seniority matters in the Senate, and Feinstein is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a member of the top Democratic leadership. We’d like to wait until we have a Democrat in the White House, and let Kamala Harris gain a little more seniority in Senate (or get Kamala Harris in the White House!), before California gives up Feinstein’s influential seat among Democratic Senate leadership.

State Senator, 26th District: Ben Allen (D)

Allen has held this position since 2016 and is universally endorsed as a force for positive change. His opponent, Baron Bruno (cool name!), is currently a real estate agent who uses a lot of CAPITAL letters on his website. While he did offer to “work until his fingers bleed,” Bruno’s anemic experience seems to be the only thing needing medical attention. Keep your day job, Bruno.

50th District State Assembly: Richard Bloom (D)

He’s running unopposed, and he knows it, judging by the grammar, punctuation, and monotony issues on his website. So it’s either a vote for him or a vote abstained. We give him our vote, as we have in the past. Liberal groups uniformly favor him and conservative groups uniformly dislike him, and that’s a formula we can believe in. A few fun highlights from his agenda: reforming the state’s film tax credit program to stem the tide of entertainment industry jobs fleeing to other states and countries; protecting bobcats; and educating people on how to understand and use the Affordable Care Act. Tiny red flag—he had to pay a fine a while back for not reporting four campaign contributions he received in the final days of his 2014 election campaign, but this failure is widely accepted as negligence as opposed to deception. We bloom for Bloom. There, we said it. But only because we always say it.

School Superintendent of Public Instruction:

UPDATED OCTOBER 27, 2018 to Marshall Tuck

As happens from time to time when we publish this list, various people reach out and talk to us about personal experiences with candidates. In this case, we asked San Francisco’s own, our good friend Ed Center (whom we would have added to this debate team were he closer) to provide his reasoning. And...we were convinced. His notes are here in blue:

Marshall Tuck is the candidate with an actual track record of improving schools for low-income, black, and Latino kids. He is willing to make tough decisions that are unpopular with the status quo: more school options for poor families, bonus pay for teachers in low-income neighborhoods, giving principals leeway to hire the faculty they want. He’s the smartest person I’ve ever talked to about education policy. This is a tough one for me because I like Thurmond and I want to support a candidate from humble means. Thurmond is a career politician with his eyes on the next prize. I would vote for him for senator. But because he’s politically ambitious, he refuses to go against the teachers union which is a big force in maintaining the status quo for poor, black and Latino students. Tuck helped to turnaround a group of underperforming schools in LA under Villaraigrosa. In doing so, he was very supportive to teachers but upset the union by doing things like giving bonus pay. The union said you can’t do that, we have a contract that lays out salary structure and he said, fine, what are you going to do when I tell the LA Times that you won’t let me pay teachers MORE? I’ve heard him lay out his plan for education in CA and I believe in that plan. I think he’s he best choice for CA students.

Our Original Notes: This was a tough pick. If the LA Times’s assessment of the race is credible, both Thurmond and Tuck would be admirable choices, although they give the slight nod to Thurmond. As do we. Both are running on a platform focusing on low-income and at-risk youth, but Tuck served as president of a chain of charter schools and as a CEO in different educational organizations, and while that doesn’t mean he can’t sympathize with the problems of low-income and at-risk communities, Thurmond is in a better position to empathize with those communities, having grown up poor in Philadelphia and then working within challenged communities as a social worker. Assuming all other relevant attributes between Tuck and Thurmond are equal—which they inevitably are not, but nothing we’ve been able to find point to a significant difference in their administrative abilities—we say go with the guy who’s been there over the guy who’s been assessing it from afar. Additionally, Thurmond’s massive list of endorsements includes Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi, and Maxine Waters—plus the California Black and Latino Caucuses, which, again, represent communities who are more vulnerable than most to a problemed education system.

County-Assessor: Jeffrey Prang

Jeffrey Prang is the incumbent and we agree with the LA Times that we should vote to give him a second term. Basically, he’s done a much better job than his predecessor so we should re-elect him so he can keep up the good work. The assessor’s main job is to determine the value of newly built, improved, or purchased properties and business assets. The office also decides on requests to reduce property valuations and hears appeals of the decisions made by its appraisers. Its decisions help determine how much county residents pay in property taxes each year. And the other guy listed his official middle name as “Lower Taxes” on the ballot (no really, look at your ballot) and in all of the press materials. We have NO idea who that works for, because it is legit crazy as hell.

County—Sheriff: Jim McDonnell

The county sheriff is one of the most powerful elected officials in the county, as they influence state policy, run the county jail system, and have the power to find alternatives to incarceration. So pay attention. We do NOT endorse the Democratic Socialist suggestion that you just write in whatever joke candidate you want. (For real, don’t.) This is a runoff election from June and pits the incumbent, McDonnell versus Villanueva, a recently retired deputy. In his time as county sheriff, McDonnell has been able to make some positive changes, especially considering that the last sheriff was sent to prison. McDonnell has much more experience than Villanueva, having had opportunities while on the force to manage large teams and more recently in his role in the past four years as county sheriff. Villanueva, on the other hand, never rose within the ranks of the LASD. Given his past work experience and performance, McDonnell just edges out Villanueva.

Member State Board of Equalization, 3rd District:

TOSS UP, but, sigh, probably Tony Vazquez (D)

Okay, this race is REAL bummer. The State Board of Equalization is a long story and kind of a mess we’ve talked about before. It was established in 1879 to ensure statewide fairness in property tax assessments, but over time the board really turned on its mandate to tamp down on corruption and by 2017 the board was bonkers corrupt and after a criminal investigation (led by Betty Yee!) Jerry Brown signed a bill that stripped the board of its powers and scaled it back from 4,800 employees to 400. So, what will Tony Vazquez or G. Rick Marshall be in charge of when we elect them? The board’s home page now says, “The State Board of Equalization administers Property Tax, Alcoholic Beverage Tax, and Tax on Insurers programs.” So, that’s a five-member board stuck more or less with its original constitutional powers to review property tax assessments, plus a few other things that have become relevant since 1879, like insurer tax assessment, alcohol excise tax, and pipeline taxes. So, it’s important that they not be corrupt. You see where this is going, yes: Tony Vazquez, the Democrat, is a longtime Santa Monica councilman and was the first Latino mayor of Santa Monica. He’s endorsed by some mainstream Democrats like Antonio Villaraigosa, Alex Padilla, and Maxine Waters (as well as a Santa Monica car dealership and a Mexican restaurant!). But there’s a noticeable brevity to his list of endorsements, because . . . you guessed it, he’s under investigation for corruption! He apparently claimed no income for several years during which his wife, a school board member, made votes that favored two businesses that had employed Vazquez as a contractor. And neither of them disclosed the conflict of interest. COME ON! And then, on the other side of the ticket, there’s G. Rick Marshall, who appears to be on the stubborn side of the small-government, fewer-taxes brand of Republicanism. That’s not a good match for California, a progressive state that believes in leveling taxes for worthy programs and investments. Marshall could bring to a screeching halt programs that make California a progressive leader. There doesn’t appear to be a hero in this story, but democracy is sometimes about picking the least worst option, and in this case, we still think that’s Vasquez, because if the current investigation finds him to be corrupt, he’ll be removed from office and we’ll get someone else who maybe won’t screw up the way taxes are collected because of some “survival of the fittest” bullshit. But again, COME ON!

FOR ANALYSIS/BIOS OF THE JUDICIARY RACES, CLICK HERE.

FOR ANALYSIS/RESEARCH OF EACH OF THE BALLOT MEASURES, CLICK HERE.

[kurt52xy-blog]

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Helen Humes

Helen Humes (June 23, 1913 – September 9, 1981) was an American jazz and blues singer.

Humes was a teenage blues singer, a vocalist with Count Basie's band, a saucy R&B diva, and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song. Along with other well-known jazz singers of the swing era, Humes helped to shape and define the sound of vocal swing music.

Early life

She was born on June 23, 1913, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Emma Johnson and John Henry Humes. She grew up as an only child. Her mother was a schoolteacher, and her father was the first black attorney in town. In an interview, Humes recalled her parents singing to each other around the house and in a church choir.

Humes was introduced to music in the church, singing in the choir and getting piano and organ lessons given at Sunday school by Bessie Allen, who taught music to any child who wanted to learn. Humes began occasionally playing the piano in a small and locally traveling dance band, the Dandies. This constant involvement in music would lead to her singing career in the mid-1920s.

Career

Early career

Her career began with her first vocal performance, at an amateur contest in 1926, singing "When You're a Long, Long Way from Home" and "I'm in Love with You, That's Why". Her talents were noticed by a guitarist in the band, Sylvester Weaver, who recorded for Okeh Records and recommended her to the talent scout and producer Tommy Rockwell. At the age of 14 Humes recorded an album in St. Louis, singing several blues songs. Two years later, a second recording session was held in New York, and this time she was accompanied by pianist J. C. Johnson. Despite this introduction to the music world, Humes did not make another record for another ten years, during which she completed her high school degree, took finance courses, and worked at a bank, as a waitress, and as a secretary for her father. She stayed home for a while, eventually leaving to visit friends in Buffalo, New York. While there, she was invited to sing a few songs at the Spider Web, a cabaret in town. This brief performance turned into an audition, which turned into a $35-a-week job. She stayed in Buffalo, singing with a small group led by Al Sears.

Cincinnati Cotton Club

While Humes was home in Louisville (she said she always returned home at least twice a year) she got a call from Sears, who was in Cincinnati. He wanted her to sing at Cincinnati's Cotton Club. The Cotton Club was an important venue in the Cincinnati music scene. It was an integrated club that booked and promoted a lot of black entertainers. Humes moved to Cincinnati in 1936 and sang with Sears's band again at the Cotton Club.

Count Basie first heard and approached Humes while she was performing at the Cotton Club in 1937. He asked her to join his touring band to replace Billie Holiday. He told her that she would be paid $35 a week, and she responded, "Oh shucks, I make that here and don't have to go no place!" Not long after this encounter, Humes moved in 1937 to New York City, where John Hammond, an influential talent scout and producer, heard her singing with Sears's band at the Renaissance Club. Through Hammond, she became a recording vocalist with Harry James's big band. Her swing recordings with James included "Jubilee", "I Can Dream, Can't I?", Jimmy Dorsey's composition "It's the Dreamer In Me", and "Song of the Wanderer". In March 1938 Hammond persuaded Humes to join Count Basie's Orchestra, where she would stay for four years.

The Count Basie Orchestra

In the Count Basie Orchestra, Humes gained acclaim as a singer of ballads and popular songs. While she was also a talented blues singer, Jimmy Rushing, another member of the orchestra at the time, held domain over the blues vocals. Her vocals with Basie's band included "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" and "Moonlight Serenade".

On December 24, 1939, Humes performed with the Count Basie Orchestra and James P. Johnson at the second From Spirituals to Swing concert at Carnegie Hall, produced by John Hammond. After this concert, most of her time with the Basie Orchestra was spent touring. In a 1973 oral history she described life on tour:

I used to pretend I was asleep on the Basie bus, so the boys wouldn't think I was hearing their rough talk. I'd sew buttons on and cook for them, too…in places where it was difficult to get anything to eat…down south. I wasn't interested in drinking and keeping late hours…but my kidneys couldn't stand the punishment of those long rides… then too I got tired of singing the same songs.

For these reasons, Humes left the group in 1942, as her health was not good and the stress of being on tour was too taxing.

Café Society and solo career

While home again in Louisville in 1942, Humes was called by John Hammond and invited to sing at Café Society in New York. She performed frequently there, accompanied by the pianists Teddy Wilson and Art Tatum. During that year, she also performed at the Three Deuces, at the Famous Door with Benny Carter (February), at the Village Vanguard with Eddie Heywood, and on tour with a big band led by the trombonist Ernie Fields.

In 1944, Humes moved to Los Angeles, California, where she spent a lot of time in the studio, recording solo work and movie soundtracks. Some of the soundtracks she recorded were Panic in the Streets and My Blue Heaven. She appeared in the musical film Jivin' in Be-Bop, by Dizzy Gillespie. She also performed and toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic for five seasons. In 1945, she recorded her most popular songs, two jump blues tunes, "Be-Baba-Leba" (Philo, 1945) and "Million Dollar Secret" (Modern, 1950). Despite this, her career stagnated. From the late 1940s to the mid-1950s she made a few recordings, working with different bands and vocalists, including Nat King Cole, but was not nearly as active as she had been. In 1950 she recorded Benny Carter's "Rock Me to Sleep". She bridged the gap between big-band swing jazz and rhythm and blues.

In 1956, Humes toured Australia with the vibraphonist Red Norvo. Their tour was well received, and she returned again in 1962 and 1964. She performed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959 and the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1960 and 1962. She toured Europe with the first American Folk Blues Festival in 1962.

She returned to the United States in 1967 to take care of her ailing mother. At this point Humes viewed her singing career as a part of her past. She took a job at a local ammunition plant, sold her record player and her records and stopped singing. From 1967 to 1973, she did not work as a singer, until Stanley Dance persuaded her to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1973. This performance led to a revival of her career in music. The festival was followed with multiple European engagements and some albums made in France for Black and Blue. She sang regularly at the Cookery in New York City from 1974 to 1977.

Humes subsequently performed occasionally in America and at European venues and festivals, including the prestigious Nice Jazz Festival in the mid-1970s. She recorded her final album, Helen, for Muse Records in 1980. She received the Music Industry of France Award in 1973 and the key to the city of Louisville in 1975.

Humes said of her career, "I'm not trying to be a star! I want to work and be happy and just go along and have my friends – and that's my career."

Death

Humes died of cancer in Santa Monica, California, in 1981, at the age of 68. Her family requested donations for cancer research instead of flowers at her funeral. She is buried at the Inglewood Park Cemetery, in Inglewood, California.

Style and reviews

Humes's vocal range was from G3 to C5, as she stated in a letter to the arranger Buck Clayton in preparation for a European tour, along with a list of her preferred songs. According to many critics, her voice was versatile, suiting pop songs and ballads as well as blues. She was compared to Ethel Waters and Mildred Bailey from early in her career and was often recorded singing the blues after her association with Basie. In an interview with the jazz critic Whitney Balliett, Humes explained, "I've been called a blues singer, a jazz singer, and a ballad singer – well, I'm all three, which means I'm just a singer." A review from Downbeat Magazine of her albums Talk of the Town, Helen Comes Back, and Helen Humes with Red Norvo and His Orchestra said the following about her collaboration with Red Norvo:

Norvo's sparkling vibes are the ideal compliment to Helen's lithe, light timbered clarity…Helen is in particularly fine voice…[with] an uncanny resemblance to early Ella [Fitzgerald] in her sound and phrasing.

The review of Helen Comes Back was not as positive but did not fault the singer:

Blues dominates [the album]…[and] although her voice is delightful, the material is too simple to challenge her…Helen is a great deal more than a blues shouter.

Reviews in the Washington Post of her last performances, in Maryland in 1978 and Washington, D.C., in 1980, described her as "beaming and genial at 65" (in 1978) and gave insight into her versatile vocals: "her characteristically light voice [turning] rough as she belted out…'You Can Take My Man But You Can't Keep Him Long'." The reviews also described her use of back phrasing, reminiscent of Billie Holiday's signature style of phrasing a melody in an intimate, personal fashion.

Discography

Midnight at Minton's, Don Byas, 1941

Helen Humes, 1959

Tain't Nobody's Biz-ness if I Do, 1959

Songs I Like to Sing, 1960

Swingin' with Humes, 1961

Helen Comes Back, 1973

Let the Good Times Roll, 1973

Sneakin' Around, 1974

On the Sunny Side of the Street (live), 1974

Helen Humes, 1974

Midsummer Night's Songs (RCA, 1974) with Red Norvo and His Orchestra

Talk of the Town, 1975

Deed I Do (live), 1976

Helen Humes and the Muse All Stars, 1979

The New Year's Eve, 1980

Helen, 1981

With the Count Basie Orchestra

The Original American Decca Recordings (GRP, 1937–39), 1992

With Harry James and His Orchestra

"Jubilee" / "I Can Dream, Can't I?" (78 rpm single, Brunswick 8038, 1937)

"It's The Dreamer In Me" (78 rpm single, Brunswick 8055, 1938)

"Song Of The Wanderer (Where Shall I Go)" (78 rpm single, Brunswick 8067, 1938)

Awards

Hot Club of France Award for Best Album of 1973

Key to the City of Louisville, 1975, 1977

Wikipedia

[julian44yp-blog]

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