|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Posts: 157,
Visits: 951
|
|
While some people complain about corporate greed - this is worse -- public officials ripping off a poor community with their own tax dollars:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-721-bell-20100721,0,3475382.story
Bell council seeks resignations of 3 city officials
Bell City Council members are seeking the resignations of the city manager and two other top officials amid growing public outcry over salaries that appear to be among the highest in the nation, according to three sources close to the discussions.
Rizzo earns nearly $800,000 a year, making him the highest paid city manager in California and possibly the nation. Adams makes $457,000 — 50% more the Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck — and Spaccia makes $376,288, more than the top administrator for Los Angeles County.
While Bell, California, may be one of the poorest cities in Los Angeles County, it has lavished extraordinary salaries on top officials,astounding for a city so poor it operates its own food bank with nearly a quarter of its roughly 37,000 inhabitants living below the poverty line.
The embattled council directed its attorney to immediately begin negotiating with the three.
Resigning would make City Manager Robert Rizzo, Police Chief Randy Adams and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia eligible for lucrative pensions. But the three also have contracts that protect them from being fired without cause.
At a closed-door meeting Monday night, as hundreds of residents protested outside, council members also discussed reducing their own pay. Most of them make $100,000 a year. City Council members may reduce their own pay too. (ya think??)
|
|
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Posts: 157,
Visits: 951
|
|
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-onthemedia-20100721,0,7846072.column
July 21, 2010
On the Media: How many more Bells are out there?
A shrunken Los Angeles Times still had the resources to unearth outsized official salaries in the small, working-class city, but more persistent journalistic voices closer to home are needed all over L.A. County.
James Rainey
This is an example of good 'old time' investigative journalism, something we could use more of – (the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel expose this past year on the corruption and fraud in the State Child-Care program was good ‘local’ example) -- we need a revival of this type of journalism and a news media that is not 'in bed' and taking a political side but rather going after 'whoever' is in political power -- Bell, CA is just a tip of the iceberg with respect to the multitude of government 'rip-offs' and gross 'no justification' expenditures taking place at the expense of the taxpaying citizens. There should be a top to bottom audit and cost/benefit analysis and justification of each and every government program and salaried position conducted at every level --- every new government program should have an automatic 'sunset' provision whereby it will expire and cease to exist unless reviewed and reauthorized by the appropriate oversight elective legislative body on a regular periodic basis. No more tenure in perpetuity for any government program or bureaucracy.
|
|
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Monday, May 14, 2012
Posts: 782,
Visits: 1,476
|
|
This example albeit far more egregious is similar to the things that went on under the former Milwaukee County Adminstrator Tom Ament, Scott Walker's predecessor. Using the county's pension fund as the vehicle Ament padded his and his cronies pockets in some cases to the tune of over a million dollars in lump sum pay-outs upon retirement and threw in six figure yearly annuities for life for good measure.
Who knows how long they behaved like this? Then all the while they constantly screamed "we just don't have enough money so we'll have to raise taxes". For this, not one day in jail for any of them.
|
|
|
|
|
Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Thursday, June 30, 2011
Posts: 409,
Visits: 615
|
|
Don't confuse my coming comments with anything but condemnation for these officials.
How can anyone possibly compare this to the swindling going on at every major corporation in America? I guess you could say they are equally bad in moral sense. But in an economic, or $$ sense, you'd have to say that the corporations, those terrible banks especially, do far more harm to us than a couple corrupt officials in a small town. I mean, did the guys in Bell, CA have the ability to crash the world economy?
I liken this to a 3rd world country rife with corruption or a pride of lions. The guy at the top gets the first cut of profit (or meat). Once he is full, the next guy takes some. And so on down the chain. Eventually you get local chieftains (in Africa) or city executives (in Bell, CA) who come to think it is ok to take from others.
|
|
|
|