Columbus NAACP president cleared of financial wrongdoing, administrator says

A national administrator who took reins of the Columbus branch of the NAACP says an internal audit was recently conducted that revealed no financial impropriety.

James Gallman, a national NAACP board member from Aiken, S.C., said the audit clears President Tonza Thomas and all other officers of any wrongdoing.

“I am clearing the name of all officers of the Columbus branch who were supposedly misusing the funds,” Gallman said in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. “... We did not look at every piece of paper. ... But those few items that we did look at, they all seemed to be in order.”

The announcement comes two months after the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People appointed Gallman administrator of the Columbus branch because of infighting.

Some members of the branch’s executive committee had accused Thomas of mishandling funds and disregarding bylaws and procedures. They reported their grievances to national and state officials attempting to have Thomas removed from the local leadership position.

Among those making the accusations were Barbara Pierce, the local branch’s second vice president, and Erma Everett, the treasurer.

In a previous interview with the Ledger-Enquirer, they said they had closed the local branch’s bank account to keep Thomas from spending the money.

Thomas said the bank account was closed without authorization and the branch had another account that she continued to use.

On Sunday, Thomas said she is ready for the branch to unite and move forward.

“I want to thank the community for sticking behind the NAACP — those who stayed true to the organization and didn’t make a decision either way,” she said in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. “And for those who made a decision based on rumors, now that the branch has been cleared up and my name has been cleared, I invite those folks to come back and join the work of the NAACP.”

Thomas said the branch received national NAACP awards in 2015 and 2017, and she believes that’s because things have been done correctly.

“And we’re going to always do things right,” she said. “So, I just want to invite everyone back to this work - all hands and hearts on deck. And I will not go anywhere until my job is complete.”

But Pierce said she and Everett are not satisfied with the audit because it only reviewed one month of financial records. She said the alleged misappropriation of funds occurred in 2017.

“They did not go over the stuff that we were complaining about,” Pierce said Sunday.

Last week, Gallman said he selected several people from the local branch to assist him with the audit.

“Several of us met at the NAACP office in Columbus and information was shared with us regarding invoices and funds that were requested and payments being made,” he said. “At no time was there any indication that there were any improprieties about the funds that were used.”

Still, changes are being made for better spending controls, Gallman added. He said a regional coordinator recently removed a spending threshold of $100 without authorization.

“Now, I’m understanding, from the paperwork that I have seen, that the threshold of $100 has been taken off the table,” he said, “so that anything that an individual is asking to be reimbursed for, they have to bring it to the executive committee and get approval for spending those funds.”

When asked how long he would remain administrator of the branch, Gallman said that hasn’t been determined.

“My biggest problem is that I’m getting too much he-say/she-say and all of this kind of stuff,” he said. “... My main concern is that the community needs to know that this branch is in need of some help.

“From the people that I’ve met, there are just too many good people saying they don’t want to have anything to do with the branch, instead of saying, ‘The branch needs us and we can help straighten things out,’” he said. “I’m hoping that I can get some people on board from the religious community, from the public sector, and people who are really wanting to get involved.”

This story was originally published April 22, 2018 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Columbus NAACP president cleared of financial wrongdoing, administrator says."