Chronology of the crisis at the national SCLC
June 2009: The Southern Christian Leadership Council’s Florida president makes a complaint with the Justice Department alleging embezzlement of national SCLC funds, triggering an internal investigation at the Atlanta-based organization.
Oct. 29: General Counsel Dexter Wimbish asks the national board to remove Chairman Raleigh Trammell and Treasurer Spiver Gordon pending completion of the investigation. According to Wimbish, the two men diverted at least $569,000 in SCLC funds to bank accounts controlled by them. The board does not vote to remove the men, but approves a continuing investigation.
Nov. 11: A special finance committee appointed to investigate the issue holds a conference call about what to do about Trammell and Gordon. A topic of conversation is whether SCLC President Byron Clay had been interviewed by the FBI.
Nov. 12: Trammell holds an often chaotic executive board conference call at which a motion is made to shut down the national SCLC office until leaders could get a handle on the situation.
Nov. 13: National board members vote to remove Trammell and Gordon until the investigation is complete.
Nov. 30: Instead of forcing the men out, the board agrees to accept their promise to temporarily step aside and not interfere with the investigation.
Dec. 28: Rev. Wilburt O. Shanklin, president of Dayton’s Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, is one of several national SCLC officials who file suit in an Atlanta court to force the reinstatement of Trammell and Gordon.
Jan. 19: An Atlanta judge issues a temporary restraining order reinstating the men because the Nov. 13 meeting was held without proper notice and the vote wasn’t ratified.
Jan. 20: Trammell and Gordon meet in Atlanta with 10 other national board members and are reinstated. But their opponents contend the meeting is illegal because a quorum isn’t present.
Jan. 28: Shanklin serves Trammell critic Art Rocker with notification of his removal as president of the Florida SCLC and said Rocker’s name will “be forever stricken from the annals of the SCLC” because of his “unfounded and incorrect statements about SCLC board members.”
Jan. 29: Wimbish files a formal complaint with the Fulton County, Ga., district attorney, calling for a criminal embezzlement investigation against Trammell and Gordon. He and others later make the same complaint with the Alabama attorney general.
Feb. 11: FBI agents in Dayton execute search warrants at the Dayton SCLC offices and at the homes of Trammell and his daughter, local SCLC official Angela Goodwine.
DAYTON — Federal agents removed computers, cardboard file boxes and plastic storage bags Thursday, Feb. 11, from the home and offices of the Rev. Raleigh Trammell, national board chairman of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
The raids come in the wake of allegations that Trammell stole money from the civil rights group. The SCLC is investigating Trammell and the group’s treasurer, Spiver Gordon , alleging that they are involved in the misappropriation of $569,000.
Art Rocker, president of the SCLC’s Florida organization, said national President Byron Clay last fall provided the FBI with evidence that Gordon, of Alabama, made two wire transfers of $6,000 in SCLC funds to a Dayton bank account controlled by Trammell .
U.S. Justice Department spokesman Fred Alverson said that the searches are in relation to an investigation into SCLC financial activities. No criminal charges have been filed.
Agents carrying search warrants Thursday entered Trammell’s home at 1505 Olmstead Place, local SCLC headquarters at 2132 W. Third St. and the home of Trammell’s daughter, Angela Goodwine, at 1482 Vernon Drive.
“I certainly want to know what’s going on. Everybody is being very courteous. I am providing the information that is required,” said Trammell, who is also chairman of the Dayton chapter of the SCLC .
“They want what you’ve been writing in the newspaper,” he added, “that I’ve got $569,000.”
Staff writers Lucas Sullivan and Kim Margolis contributed to this report.
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