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Trammell removed as board chair of SCLC

Local civil rights leader the Rev. Raleigh Trammell was removed pending “an internal investigation into alleged claims of improprieties,” according to a Monday night news release from Atlanta-based SCLC.

Contributed photo by Peter Wine Local civil rights leader the Rev. Raleigh Trammell was removed pending “an internal investigation into alleged claims of improprieties,” according to a Monday night news release from Atlanta-based SCLC.

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By Lynn Hulsey, Staff Writer Updated 11:31 PM Tuesday, December 22, 2009

DAYTON — Local civil rights leader the Rev. Raleigh Trammell has been suspended as board chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference amid allegations of mismanagement of funds, according to a news release from the SCLC.

Trammell and SCLC Treasurer Spiver Gordon of Eutaw, Ala., were removed pending “an internal investigation into alleged claims of improprieties” against the two men, according to a news release from Atlanta-based SCLC.

Trammell, who is president of the SCLC Dayton chapter and executive director of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, could not be reached for comment. But his colleague in both organizations, the Rev. William Shanklin, denied that Trammell had been removed from the SCLC leadership.

“There has been an attempt, but he has not been removed. You’re hearing rhetoric,” said Shanklin, who is president of the local and state IMA and is compliance chairman and parliamentarian of the national SCLC.

“There are people trying to play mindgames and twist the whole world view and trying to influence people,” said Shanklin.

Shanklin confirmed that there is an investigation but said he does not believe Trammell was involved in wrongdoing. Shanklin characterized the investigation and reports of Trammell’s removal as part of a power struggle within the SCLC. Shanklin said Trammell will continue in his roles in the local SCLC and ministerial group .

The move comes weeks before the national SCLC installs as its new president the Rev. Bernice King, the youngest daughter of co-founder the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC's first female president.

The investigation began in October and includes a personnel matter involving an employee in the SCLC’s Dayton chapter office, according to the SCLC release.

The Rev. Sylvia Tucker was named acting board chairman and Randall Gaines was named acting treasurer. Tucker said she would instill in the board “a firm commitment to transparency and accountability.”

“We are at a historical moment in history as we prepare to ratify the election of Rev. Dr. Bernice A. King as the organization’s first female president,” Tucker said. “It is incumbent upon us to protect the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the SCLC as we work to ensure that necessary steps are taken (to) guarantee the public trust in the organization.”

The SCLC said it would announce the findings of the investigation but until then would release no additional statements on the matter.

“We pray for a peaceful resolve for the good of the SCLC organization,” said Derrick Foward, president of the NAACP Dayton unit.

The local SCLC chapter and the ministerial alliance receive or have received taxpayer money for programs. Both are longtime recipients of Montgomery County Human Services Levy funds for a program to feed the elderly, for which county commission allocated $39,894 this year and again in 2010.

County Commission President Dan Foley said the county will not reevaluate that funding in light of the SCLC investigation into Trammell. He said the program is funded through reimbursements based on invoices and other documentation.

“At this point we have a contract with SCLC to deliver home-based meals and there has been nothing that has come to our attention to make us believe that the clients are not receiving those meals,” Foley said.

Public Health-Dayton and Montgomery County previously funded an SCLC HIV/AIDS outreach program — giving the group $53,632 as recently as 2008. But funding was eliminated for the group last year and isn’t planned for this year, a move that prompted an unsuccessful lawsuit by the SCLC that is on appeal, said Bill Wharton, spokesman for the health district.

Local SCLC audit forms from the early 2000s indicate the group also received about $50,000 annually from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services and $30,000 from SCOPE, now known as the Community Action Partnership. Spokespersons for JFS and the partnership said they currently provide no funding for the group.

Trammell has been a community organizer for years but also has been embroiled in controversy. He served a prison term in the 1970s for defrauding the county welfare agency while working as deputy director. In the mid-1990s, Trammell was investigated as part of a larger probe of misuse of public funds at the Montgomery County Community Action Agency. He was never charged with wrongdoing in that case.

Trammell also has been at the center of turmoil within the SCLC leadership. In 2004 SCLC co-founder, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth of Cincinnati, resigned as president, saying Trammell, then vice chairman of the board, had undermined his leadership.

Keith Lander, a local civil rights activist, said it is time for a change at the SCLC.

“Rev. Trammell has done a lot of good things for the SCLC but now it’s time for him to go. Rev. Shanklin has done nothing but talk and it seems that he doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” said Lander. “It’s time to move the SCLC forward.”

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