Attorney general approves lawsuit against Inglewood councilwoman

By Emilie St. John

Contributing Writer

INGLEWOOD — California Attorney General Rob Bonta has approved a lawsuit against Inglewood City Councilwoman Gloria Gray for holding elected seats on not the Inglewood City Council and the West Basin Municipal Water District Board of Directors.

Inglewood resident Daniel Bookman and Conner Everts of the Southern California Watershed Alliance served Gray with a verified complaint in quo warranto during a September City Council meeting.

Bonta published his opinion Oct. 7, granting the pair permission to file the “quo warranto” lawsuit.

“The proposed lawsuit meets all three of the attorney general’s criteria to grant leave to sue: it is correctly brought through the quo warranto process, it raises a significant legal issue warranting judicial resolution, and such resolution would serve the public interest,” Bonta said in the opinion.

“An attorney general opinion published in 2002 concludes that two offices just like those in question — membership on a city council and a municipal water district — are incompatible,” Bonta said. “Given a city council’s power to obtain water for its constituents and a water board’s power to supply that water, the opinion reasons that a person serving in both offices could face divided loyalties from being on opposite sides of water-supply transactions.”

Bookman and Everts could not be reached for comment on when they intend to file their lawsuit.

Gray is actively running for mayor of Inglewood and re-election to the water board seat.

Gray typically doesn’t draw any challengers to her water board seat, but has two opponents this year on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Tyron Turner, who currently serves as a community water advisor, has called on Gray to end her water board campaign because she faces a forthcoming lawsuit.

“Gloria Gray should withdraw from this race,” Turner said. “She is a career politician who has spent decades in elected office, and she knows better than anyone that the right thing to do is to step aside. She is asking voters for another term in an office the attorney general says she may not be legally entitled to hold. 

“That is not fair to the people of this district, and it is not fair to ask them to gamble with their drinking water,” Turner added. “Voters deserve better.”

“Protecting drinking water isn’t a side gig,” Turner continued. “It’s a full-time job that everyday working people depend on you to do. You can’t do it with one foot in City Hall and the other at the water board.”

Carol Raines-Brown, who is also running for the water board seat, has not issued any public comments on the matter.

Gray has held her Division II seat on the West Basin Municipal Water District board since 2006 and has served on the City Council since 2023.

Inglewood buys roughly 77% of its drinking water from West Basin.

In 2025, Lauren Sutton filed a complaint alleging that Inglewood residents are not being properly served because Gray serves in both positions.

“According to the principles set forth in California Government Code Section 1099, and as supported by prior rulings by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, a person may not simultaneously hold two public offices if the duties of either office may conflict with the duties of the other,” Sutton wrote in the complaint.

“In past determinations, similar dual office-holding arrangements have been deemed incompatible and therefore prohibited under California law.”

The state watchdog agency rejected Sutton’s complaint.