U.S.: How did Bell, California’s city government become so corrupt?
- The L.a. Times has a lengthy article on Bell’s corruption that’s worth reading. We could go into great detail with the piece, but we think we can probably explain the story best through the starting and ending salary of one of the most corrupt members of Bell’s government, one of seven town officials who took advantage of low voter turnout and high amounts of power to bilk a fairly poor municipality out of $5.5 million. Here’s how much Robert Rizzo made when he started working for the city, and when he stopped:
- $78,000 Bell city administrator Robert Rizzo’s starting salary in 1993; he was paid $8,000 less than his predecessor and known for cutting things left and right
- $800,000 Rizzo’s salary just before he lost his job – at which point it became clear he was cheating one of the poorest municipalities in the L.A. area source