Donald Sterling's LA Charity Plantation

Anyone reading theover the past 15 years has had to endure Donald Sterling's ceaseless self-aggrandizing ads for his 300+ apartment buildings, his massive lines of credit from major banks (to buy more buildings) and, worst of all, his charity work.
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Anyone reading the Los Angeles Times over the past 15 years has had to endure Donald Sterling's ceaseless self-aggrandizing ads for his 300+ apartment buildings, his massive lines of credit from major banks (to buy more buildings) and, worst of all, his charity work. Using the same ad lay-out year after year, Sterling associates himself with many brand name charities -- using mug shots of their executive directors as well as those of his real estate and sports industry pals... co-honorees at various events he sponsors.

The problem is that his foundation's public reporting is opaque and it's impossible to tell what, if anything, of consequence his foundation has accomplished... except in promoting Donald Sterling and occasionally his now-estranged wife, Rochelle. A much-advertised $50 million Donald Sterling Homeless Shelter for downtown L.A. has been promoted in the pages of the Los Angeles Times for eight years yet nothing has been built. Currently, photos of a Donald Sterling Malibu Horse Ranch (to open in 2015, "for inner city youth") are being run in even more Los Angeles Times ads.

LA charities should disavow taking another dime from Donald Sterling -- as many do from Big Tobacco, armaments manufacturers and heavy polluters. Instead, when he sells the Clippers for what may be a $500-750 million profit, he should set up an anonymous fund at the California Community Foundation and direct it to grant those funds to community groups at its sole discretion... and retire along with his ad lay-out staff!

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