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?”
“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.
