Waiting to Be Rescued, Part 1

TAKING ON WATER

On Thursdays, one of President Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. few supporters wrote a comment criticizing anyone who posts comments on the blog, and resorting to the use of profanity, disparaged people who have posted comments and threatened to expose them. What we found interesting is that the person who was criticizing people for posting and threatening to expose their identifies, exercised his or her right to express their opinion. The hypocrisy didn't elude us. 

More than even the content of the message is the reaction of the poster which was extremely emotion and causing to wonder if the poster is a member of Priority One's deficient executive or managerial body. 

For those people who read and even post on this blog, there is no way that your identity can be identified. The President's supporter leveled a threat which was grounded in ignorance and amounts to nothing more than cheap theatrics and elementary manipulation. 

The folks at Blogger.com provided us with information about any poster's identity. 

"Anonymous comments should be okay. Commenters who might use their profile leave themselves as vulnerable as the amount of profile information included." .

THE SECOND ELECTION

Though we had not intended to write again, about Priority One Credit Union's second election which took place several weeks ago, we've decided to revisit the subject after recently obtaining a copy of the letter sent to United States Postal Carrier, Jeffrey Moses Chen, by Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks, in which she reminded him to complete the nomination application and return it to the credit union by June 24, 2009, the date of the deadline for all submissions. As we've also reported previously, President Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. and the Board Chair violated state law when they accepted Mr. Chen's completed application, several days after the deadline had come and gone. 

The contents of Mrs. Harris-Brooks' letter to Mr. Chen is shown below:

June 18, 2009

Re: Request to Run for Voluntary Position

Priority One Credit Union

Dear Mr. Chen:

This letter is in response to our acknowledgement correspondence and application package mailed to you on Tuesday, June 2, 2009.

To date, we have not received your application package for a possible seat on the Board of Directors of Supervisory Committee.

Unfortunately, you did not provide a contact phone number in your letter of request; therefore, we have not been unable to contact you to discuss the urgency of receiving your package timely.

If you are still interested in applying for one of the volunteer seats, we request that you forward your package to the address below by close of business Wednesday, June 24, 2009. if we do not receive your response by the due date, we will move forward with the election process.  

Priority One Credit Union

Attention: Nomination Committee

1631 Huntington Drive

South Pasadena, CA 91030      

Your immediate response is appreciated. 

Diedra E. Brooks (signature)

(Fr) Bobby Thomas

Chair, Nominating Committee


The Board Chair has never written to any member, reminding them to return their nomination. Serving on the Board or Supervisory Committee is s she wrote, voluntary thus there is no no need to remind a person that they should submit their complete application. The reason why Mrs. Harris-Brooks sent the letter was because she, the President and Director, Bobby Thomas, were perpetrating a plot to interfere with the electoral process. Unbeknownst to Mr. Chen, was just a tool by which they hoped to defer votes that could possibly go to former Director, David Davidson. What's more, the three had already begun telling associates and friends who are members, to vote for Mr. Chen. To described Diedra Harris-Brooks as being merely "corrupt" is a huge understatement. The Board Chair, like the President, has no concept of what ethical conduct entails and both possess a disdain for policies and laws. 

The President and Board Chair's violation of law is further attested to in the following announcement issued this past May by Mrs. Harris-Brooks to members:

Priority One Credit Union

Message to Members regarding the Annual Meeting

All members are invited to attend the Annual Meeting of Priority One Credit Union.

When: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 6:00 p.m.

Where:

Priority One Credit Union

South Pasadena Headquarters

1631 Huntington Drove

South Pasadena, CA 91030

At the Annual Meeting, the Board of Directors, Supervisory Committee and President/CEO will jointly report on the status of the Credit Union. As discussed further below, no unscheduled business will be conducted during the Annual Meeting. However, immediately following the adjournment of the scheduled business of the Annual Meeting, there will be a Question and Answer session for members.

As you know, the announcement of election results is generally held during the Annual Meeting. Recently, the Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee have become aware of concerns as to the distribution of the notice of vacancies to members. To this end, the Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee have considered that there may be members who were interested in being nominated to run for either: (a)the one(1) position on the Board of Directors, or (b) one of the two (2) positions on the Supervisory Committee. Each of these positions are for three (3) year terms. Consequently, in the interest of fairness for all, the Board of Directors and Supervisory Committee have determined it is appropriate to re-open the nomination and election process.

Accordingly, any member in good standing who is interested in seeking nominations for the above available positions on the Board of Directors or Supervisory Committee should request a nomination application from the Nominating Committee in writing to the following address:

Nominating Committee

P.O. Box 512195

Los Angeles, CA 90051-0195

All completed nomination applications must be submitted to the Nominating Committee at the above address no later than midnight June 8, 2009.

The Nominating Committee will consider up to three (3) members for each open position. Those not selected by the Nominating Committee will be allowed the opportunity to seek nomination process is complete, an election notice will be mailed to all voting members with the names of those persons nominated. Subject to there being more nominees than open positions, a written ballot will be provide to all voting members. If, on the other hand, there are no more nominations than open positions, then those nominated shall be deemed elected in accordance with the Bylaws.

Mrs. Harris-Brooks not only violated state laws, her acceptance of Mr. Chen's application after the deadline is clearly inconsistent with the statement in her letter that applications must be submitted "no later than midnight June 8, 2009."

What's more, Mrs. Harris-Brooks mailed her letter to Mr. Chen, ten (10) days after the deadline had passed. Evidently, Mrs. Harris-Brooks shares the same disdain to rules and laws so often shown by President Wiggington. With regards to her letter, how many times since she's been Board Chair has Mrs. Harris-Brooks sent a similar letter to any member?

It gets better.........

A few days after the letter was mailed, Mr. Chen visited the South Pasadena Branch. Arriving at the reception area, he loudly announced that he was there to submit his nomination. When advised the deadline had expired, he became irate and exclaimed, "Bobby Thomas said I could turn in my nomination!" 

Later, that same day, the giddy and over zealous President visited the Senior Vice President's office, exclaiming he was in possession of Mr. Chen's application. While walking through the Loan Department, he called Mrs. Harris-Brooks and loudly boasted that he'd received the nomination. For the dishonest President, violated state law and credit union policy was indeed something to be jubilant about. 

PARANOIA

Last Wednesday, at the request of Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks; the Board of Directors; President Charles R. Wiggington, Sr.; AVP, Rodger Smock; and COO, Beatrice Walker all convened for a "private" meeting at Carrows Restaurant in South Pasadena, California, to discuss how to bring an end to breaches of confidentiality racking the credit union. 

According to President Wiggington, the meeting was held off-site because he and the Board Chair "know" that the entire South Pasadena branch is saturated with electronic surveillance equipment planted by unnamed employees and which the two officers insist is the reason why information reported on this blog is so accurate. On a side note, no one was supposed to know the location of the "secret" meeting location but the President couldn't resist from disclosing its location. 

We thank President Wiggington for complimenting our reporting but haven't and don't intend to, invest in electronic surveillance equipment. We're surprised that despite having said he installed more than 18 new cameras in the South Pasadena branch, that none have been unable to video tape images of people allegedly placing electronic surveillance equipment throughout the branch. Does this mean he wasted more credit union monies purchasing cameras that are not functioning properly? 

The reason why cameras haven't recorded images of persons planting electronic surveillance equipment is because equipment hasn't been planted. The President's and Board Chair's excuse is just another example of need to concoct excuses that are borne out of their vivid and unfettered imaginations. The reason confidential information is finding its way to the Internet is because President Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. is an undisciplined babbler. Each day, he strolls through the various departments in the South Pasadena branch, loudly verbalizing highly confidential information that only a few people should be privy to. 

However, since July, the breaches of confidential information have actually increased. In recently months, COO, Beatrice Walker has been contaminated by the President and each day while visiting the cubicle of AVP, Yvonne Boutte, discusses highly confidential information in the presence of collection and call center personnel.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

Last Thursday, President Wiggington, at the request of the Board, visited some of Priority One's branches. The reason for the visits is strictly damage control. The Board has grown tired of complaints that the President is estranged from all staffs at all branch locations. While visiting branches, the President stated he intends to start visiting postal facilities. 

Coincidentally, his agreement with the credit union is up for renewal on December 31, 2009, which might also serve as motivation to try and create an impression that he cares about employees though the visit, is uncharacteristic and the first effort made by him since being appointed President on January 1, 2007, to reach out to employees. The strictly public relations move is, in our opinion, disingenuous and it'll be interesting to see if the visit is a one-time even or if he will become a part of his monthly agenda. We believe it;'s a one-time occurrence. 

HENRY JUSTICE

Henry Justice, the infamous owner of the now defunct, Justice Auto Sales, who was once paid more than $80,000 by the credit union for vehicles purchased from his business by four former employees but who later refused to surrender the pink slips for each automobile, continues to appear on the credit union's list of preferred Select Employer Groups.

His continued inclusion can be attributed to President Wiggington. The two men were friends before Mr. Justice was introduced to the credit union by then Vice President of Operations, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. And the two remained friends ever after Mr. Justice refused to surrender the pink slips. In fact, their friendship remained intact, even after the credit union filed a lawsuit against Mr. Justice in their effort to recuperate the monies paid to the dealer. And their friendship remained unaffected even after Mr. Justice filed bankruptcy and even after he obtained approval from the court which exempted him from repaying any of the monies. 

Apparently, their friendship was immovable because in late 2008, President Wiggington in defiance to credit union policies or without consideration of the impact of Mr. Justice's act, invited the dealer to his office in South Pasadena where they laughed and joked and renewed their relationship. A few days after their meeting, the President informed AVP of Lending, Patti Loiacano, that he was reinstating a working relationship with Mr. Justice, disclosing that Mr. Justice would be considered a "preferred" automobile broker and that all members hoping to buy a car, would be referred to Mr. Justice.  

We reported about the President's plans to re-introduce Mr. Justice to the credit union which caused the President to bring an immediate termination of his deal. The following our expose', the President made his way to the Loan Department and began retrieving business cards and fliers he'd personally distributed to every loan processor and officers. The following information was obtained from one of the business cards distributed by the President:

Long’s Auto Sales

455 E Carson Plaza Dr

Carson, CA 90746

We also located the following second address on the Internet, for Long's Auto Sales: 

Long's Auto Sales

451 E. Carson Plaza Drive, Suite 204

Carson, CA 90746

310-768-3506 

310-739-7206 Cellular

800-863-KARS (5277) 

UPDATE

The complaint filed with the Department of Fair Employment in Housing in 2008 by the former employee sexually harassed by President Wiggington, remains unsettled. 

As reported in previous posts, in 2008, the Board of Directors called the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, initially offering $20,000 to settle the complaint. This, by the way, occurred after Mrs. Harris-Brooks mailed a letter to the victim which informed her that sexual harassment as defined by federal law, never occurred. Mrs. Harris-Brooks also stated that findings showed the employee had encouraged the President's sexualized comments and that the victim had participated in sexual repartee. With this in mind, doesn't it seem peculiar that Diedra Harris-Brooks who concluded that sexual harassment never occurred, is also the same person who helped formulate the offer of $20,000?  The $20,000 offer presented to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing was immediately rejected by the victim. The Board responded by offering $40,000.  It would seem that Mrs. Harris-Brooks has as we've always contended, known that President Wiggington sexually harassed the former employee but terminating the President would have disrupted her hold over the credit union. 

On a related note, at the time Mr. Wiggington was spewing out sexualized commentaries and placing his hand on the victim's knees and thighs, he was in his 50's while she was in her early 30's. So what Mrs. Harris-Brooks has tried to do is convince us that the then 50-some year old man lacked the personal self-control to withhold his inappropriate and illegal sexualized statements. 

Though in the history of the credit union, no other President has ever been accused of sexual harassment, the punishment doled out by the Board was hiring a consultant to come and speak to ALL employees about what constitutes sexual harassment and how to respond to sexualized overtures. During the meeting, the cowardly President sat at the back of the room, surrounded by the Board Directors. It was an incredible and embarrassing display but neither Mrs.Harris-Brooks or any  of the Directors possessed the intellectual capacity to understand the impression they were making. 

SPENDING TO THE HILT

Priority One now describes itself as a "Financial Fitness Center" who possesses the ability to help members and employees win with money. It's quite a lofty proclamation from a credit union mired in the RED. 

to its members. In view of what the credit union's financials disclose, this indeed is a lofty proclamation.

One might think, that Priority One has stumbled into the Black. The Board authorized the spending of $74,000 of which, approximately $24,000 will be used to purchase new furniture; $50,000 will be spent on product development. 

During the May 2009 Annual Meeting, the President declared that he is "working smarter." Well, if terminating lower level personnel is his solution to the problems he created than there is nothing that can't be resolved by plopping off a few employee heads.  

The real problem lies in the hearts and minds of men. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics. It is easier to change the nature of plutonium* than change the nature of evil men (paraphrased).

Albert Einstein

Dissing the Law, Part 1

INEFFECTIVE SECURITY

After delaying what is now known as Priority One Credit Union's "second" annual election, ballots have finally been mailed to members. This year's electoral proceedings were disrupted by President Charles R. Wiggington, Sr.  and Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks, in their zest to ensure none of the current Directors or Supervisors were displaced. Its quite amazing that the President and the Board Chair have exacted very effort to ensure the Board's almost all Black Directors and the Supervisory Committee's all-Black supervisors remain securely in place. 

But first, employees of Priority One's Los Angeles branch have recently disclosed that a series of thefts have recently been uncovered. The thefts were allegedly committed by a former receptionist who left the credit union a few months ago, on maternity leave, never to return to work.

If the rumors prove to be true, this will again bring into question the effectiveness of the credit union's security protocols and their ability to protect member assets. This is not the first security breach occurring at the credit union. The first occurred in 2007, just a few weeks after Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. was appointed President. At the time, he refused to check a sample batch of envelopes that contained ballots and were being prepared for mailing. The practice of reviewing a sample batch had been implemented by President Wiggington's predecessor, William E. Harris but in 2007, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. refused to review the sample batch declaring, "I don't do that. I'm the President." His refusal cause the credit union to spend $100,000 on obtaining the services of Experian and offering members free credit protection for a period of 12-months. 

The President also violated the credit union's internal procedures used to screen employees when he promoted Liz Campos, the Branch Manager of the Burbank branch to AVP. Three months later, an investigation proved she had been kiting which is a federal offense. She was terminated soon afterwards. 

We will report more on this latest development as we obtain more information.  

A Second Annual Election

This past week, the credit union finally mailed ballots to members for this year's election. We received the following comment from a reader:

“If the deadline for the 1st election was in February and elections were held in March, why is it that the deadline for the second election was in May but we didn't get ballots until the last couple of days of July? Were they dragging their feet so they could plot the election? If management hasn't done anything wrong why do they look like they have?”

The reason why the mailing of ballots was delayed is because Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks, and President Wiggngton, both intentionally disrupted this year's election in a frantic effort to ensure the members of the Board and Supervisory Committee remained intact. At Present, Mrs. Harris-Brooks and the President enjoy the support of the completely subservient and useless Board of Directors who comply with Mrs. Harris-Brooks' every whim. She has spent years securing her rulership over the the Board and authority over the credit union, and last year and with the help of President Wiggington vanquished the last White Director to serve on the Board.  

Though the last day when nominations could be received was on June 8, 2009, ballots were not mailed out until the last week of July. This is a period of almost two months and its quite inexcusable but the two despicable officers have left no stone unturned in disrupting and manipulating this year's election. 

As a result of their illegal meddling the first election was deemed illegal. What's more, two caused the credit union to spend more money on reprinting and mailing ballots and on posting announcements of the new and second election. During May's annual meeting the President stated he is trying to find ways to reduce expenses and is currently "streamlining spending" and "working smarter." Is this an example of this efforts? If so, he's failing at this too.

A NOT SO SECRET PLOT 

This year, the President's and Mrs. Harris-Brooks' conspiracy was aided by Director, Bobby Thomas.  Mr. Thomas is a representative of the postal carrier's union, Branch 24. In his role, he serves as a liaison, between the union and the United States Postal Service. In his role, he ensures that employees are fairly represented and that the employer- the postal service, adheres to the terms of the ratified agreement entered into with the union. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Thomas is also a hypocrite. In his role as Director, he conspired with Mrs. Harris-Brooks and the President and pursued an Asian postal carrier, convincing him to submit an application, nominating himself to vie for one of the seats on the Supervisory Committee that were up for re-election. This of course is neither illegal or unethical, however, the member failed to file his application by the deadline and so was disqualified as a potential nominee. Mr. Thomas knew the deadline had passed and hurriedly informed Mrs. Harris-Brooks. The unethical Board Chair wrote a letter to the postal carrier asking him to submit his application, even though the deadline had passed. 

The postal carrier dropped by the South Pasadena branch and informed the receptionist that he was submitting his nomination. When informed that the deadline has passed, member grew irritated and in a loud voice insisted had was in possession of a letter provided to him by Director, Bobby Thomas, which allowed him to submit his nomination after the deadline. The receptionist called to advise the President of what the member had said and the President quickly made his way to the reception desk, exclaiming loudly, "This is what I've been waiting for." 

The ballots received earlier this week by members, were accompanied by a page containing the biographies and photographs of four candidates. Two are incumbents, Lorenzo Ford and Anna Smith, another is Dave Davidson and the fourth is Jeffrey Moses Chen, who should have been disqualified for submitting his nomination after the deadline.  

Priority One's Board is comprised of despicable who continually violate credit union policies and who have demonstrated a chronic disdain for state and federal law as attested to by their interference with this year's election and the Board Chair's 2008 decision to squash evidence which proved Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. sexually harassed a former employee. 

There is nothing in their illegal dealings that has actually served to increase business or elevate Priority One. To the contrary, their illegal acts have continually bludgeoned away at Priority One's public reputation and its former sound financial standing. Don't expect anything good to come of their abhorrent behaviors and expect the credit union to reach new ever greater lows than have already occurred.