Say Buh Bye: Disbarred Fraudster, Racketeer, Extortionist Resigns In Disgrace

Leon Jenkins, who started heading the NAACP Los Angeles Branch in 2008, faced a laundry list of charges when he was indicted in 1988 for bribery, racketeering, mail fraud, extortion, and conspiracy, according to records from the State Bar of California. Although he was acquitted of the criminal charges, the Michigan Supreme Court removed him as a judge in 1991, saying that he “systematically and routinely sold his office." The Michigan Citizen reported.

He was disbarred from practicing law as an attorney in Michigan in 1994. He tried to start a new life in California, but was also disbarred there in 2001 after the State Bar began looking into his misconduct allegations in Michigan. The State Bar of California rejected his requests to be reinstated in 2006 and 2012, according to the L.A. Times. Court records showed that he tried again this month, but judges thought he hadn't established the "moral fitness to resume the practice of law."

From the LA Times:

In his letter of resignation Thursday evening, Jenkins said the “legacy, history and reputation of the NAACP is more important to me than the presidency. In order to separate the Los Angeles NAACP and the NAACP from the negative exposure I have caused…I respectfully resign my position as president of the Los Angeles NAACP.”

Reacting to the announcement, local activist Earl Ofari Hutchinson said the NAACP's Los Angeles chapter needed to become "fully transparent and accountable to its members and community and not to dubious corporate donors." 

Really, Earl?  The legacy and reputation of the NAACP is shit now.  You guys should have cleaned house long ago.  Your organization has become irrelevant.

Former NAACP Chicago chapter President David Lowery lamented that, "It has become an arm for the Democratic Party to be able to use black people and use the black politicians to continue the ignorance of voting about candidates. Black voters need to learn about the policies of all parties.”