Raleigh Trammell is an ex-con. A man convicted of welfare fraud. Been to prison. Comes back and somehow ends up administering welfare programs again?

Uh, does this sound like a good idea? So when the FBI is called in to investigate the possibility that he, as Britney Spears says, “Oops, I did it again” should we be throwing the book at Raleigh, or the people who were stupid enough to put him in charge of welfare money- again?

It would seem the real culprit is Montgomery County run by Deborah Feldman, however, no one seems to be pointing a finger at her. The paper seems to have no problem insinuating that the Reverend has misappropriated tax money- without wondering how and who thought that he was qualified to administer it:

Montgomery County, state and federal governments last year provided $357,637, for programs operated by the SCLC and the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance. Since 1999, the total taxpayer contribution to those groups has been at least $3 million.

Trammell is chairman of the national SCLC, a civil rights group founded in 1957 by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He is also chairman of the Dayton SCLC chapter and executive director of the IMA.

Trammell and SCLC national Treasurer Spiver Gordon are under investigation by the national SCLC for allegedly embezzling $569,000.

National board member Art Rocker and others presented evidence to authorities in Alabama and Georgia and had planned to come to Ohio next week. Rocker applauded the FBI raid.

“It will show it’s going to be tough to pimp on the name of Dr. King any longer. This is a message to all civil rights leaders,” said Rocker, president of Florida SCLC. “If you’re not going to do your program, if you’re not going to do what you say, get out of the civil rights business…

It wasn’t the first time that Trammell’s home at 1505 Olmstead Place has been raided. In 1977, Trammell, then deputy director of the county welfare department, was indicted in a widespread probe into systemic welfare fraud and his home raided by sheriff’s deputies. He was convicted of larceny by trick and grand theft, and sentenced to 4-to-10 years in prison. He served a little over a year before being released on shock parole in 1980.

Trammell has headed the local SCLC since 1983. He became vice chairman of the national SCLC board in 1996 and national chairman in 2004….

A Dayton Daily News examination found the Dayton SCLC chapter and IMA took funding for a domestic violence shelter and food pantry that closed in August. For the last two years the county also failed to monitor the funding Trammell’s organizations received through the Dayton Urban League.

“We take full responsibility for our lack of full monitoring,” Feldman said, although she said the Urban League too failed to monitor its subcontractors.

The county funds a Family Formation case management and counseling program through the Urban League, which subcontracts with the IMA, SCLC and a third group. In 2009, $84,660 went to the IMA and SCLC for those services.

In response to questions raised by the Daily News, the county reviewed the program’s paperwork this week and found that the SCLC had failed to document whether services were provided.

Feldman said Thursday she removed the SCLC as a subcontractor, and told the Urban League it would not be paid until a plan is in place to better monitor how the money is spent.

The United Way of Greater Dayton also is auditing Federal Emergency Management Agency money that went to IMA and SCLC last year, said Jayne Klose, senior vice president of the local United Way, which oversees the funding.

The money was to pay for the shelter, the pantry and a feeding program. Since 2001 the SCLC and IMA have received $728,252 from the program, including federal stimulus money….

The county also spends about $40,000 a year in human services levy money for a feeding program the SCLC runs. Feldman on Thursday said she would cut off the funding in April unless the SCLC provides a full financial accounting and audit. She temporarily suspended that program Thursday

via Local officials halt SCLC funding.

But here is the shocker- even if Rev. Trammell was indeed a thief, stealing all of the $3 million in government funds that were allocated to the poor through his organizations over the last 10 years- without any second look by the people who handed him these contracts- he has taken less than Pam Morris, CEO of CareSource took home in one year as “compensation” for overseeing the distribution of tax dollars to the less fortunate.

The difference- one is a black male, ex-con who was set-up to take a fall- and the other is a white woman who is beyond reproach.

Guess someone did better at remembering to spread the money around to other non-profits as opposed to friends and family.

Once again- there seem to be two different justice systems.

This isn’t a crime against the SCLC, it’s a crime against the voters intelligence to allow people like Feldman and Morris- to be overlooked, while we crawl up Trammell’s backside looking for poop. Sure there is poop- that’s what they want us to look at- while they’ve been getting away with crime after crime.

It’s time to look back at the deal for the Sears building downtown- where Deborah Feldman’s husband and father in-law made a killing selling a property they optioned for less than $1.2 Million to the City for over $8 Million for the Riverscape fountain. Yes, somethings stink in this city- but, the Reverend Raleigh ain’t the main cause of it.

Here is what the Dayton Grassroots Daily Show had to say: