Devil's Advocate: What did these people explicitly do wrong?

[ExiledTidefan]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...032735502538.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

This article talks about the arrests of 8 Bell, California officials, accused of taking too high of salaries from the City. One official, a City Manager, made $800,000 in one year.

If they didn't steal the money, then they were just overpaid. Period. last I checked, this wasn't against the law, whether you are a private citizen working for a private corporation, or if you were a government employee. This seems like a witch hunt to me, when bigger issues are at hand. Should those salaries had been reviewed and lowered? Well sure. Duh. No one should get paid that to do what they did.

But I just fail to see what the crime here is. I'm sure some reason is given, in order to arrest them, but I just don't see the big deal.

 

[It Takes Eleven]

LOS ANGELES—Eight current and former municipal officials were arrested Tuesday as part of a corruption probe in the small, working-class city of Bell, Calif., where residents were outraged after learning officials were paying themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries.
The suspects were booked into county facilities and will be kept away from other inmates for their protection, Los Angeles County sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said.
He would not release the names of those arrested, though the district attorney's office scheduled a news conference to discuss details.
The arrests were the latest twist in a scandal that emerged in July with the disclosure that City Manager Robert Rizzo was paid nearly $800,000 a year—almost twice the salary of President Barack Obama.
Since then, authorities have been investigating allegations of corruption, misuse of funds, racial profiling and voter fraud in the city where one in six of the 40,000 residents lives in poverty.
It also was revealed that former Police Chief Randy Adams was making $457,000 a year, and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia was paid $376,288. Four of the five City Council members paid themselves nearly $100,000 a year for their part-time service.
Messrs. Rizzo and Adams and Ms. Spaccia resigned and the council members reduced their salaries to about $8,000 following the disclosures and angry public reaction. The four council members are currently the target of a recall.
The city is under investigation by the district attorney's office, state attorney general and the U.S. Justice Department. Its finances are being audited by state Controller John Chiang's office.
Last week, state Attorney General Jerry Brown sued eight current and former officials of Bell, accusing them of defrauding taxpayers by granting themselves salaries he said were far higher than warranted for the jobs they were doing.

It looks like the allegations go beyond being horribly overpaid, and some aspects may not be directly related to the magnitude of the salaries. Most municipalities are subject to open records requirements, and apparently these salaries were not disclosed under normal channels. The voter fraud and audit findings will probably be the nail in the coffin for them.

 

[ExiledTidefan]

I can totally see throwing them under the bus for voter fraud, which is probably what the bigger picture here is. Vernon, CA is another place you should google for voter fraud. All these little small municipalities with big industry in their back pockets are just shaking in their boots right now.

I was having a hard time with what the AG Jerry Brown was wanting to arrest them for, if there was no legislation in place ahead of time to enforce what salaries should be. I'm sure that audit won't be clean. Man, loving that police chief's salary, $457k per year!!!!

 

[psychojoe]

I can totally see throwing them under the bus for voter fraud, which is probably what the bigger picture here is. Vernon, CA is another place you should google for voter fraud. All these little small municipalities with big industry in their back pockets are just shaking in their boots right now.

I was having a hard time with what the AG Jerry Brown was wanting to arrest them for, if there was no legislation in place ahead of time to enforce what salaries should be. I'm sure that audit won't be clean. Man, loving that police chief's salary, $457k per year!!!!

And Bell is smaller (and poorer) than our hometown of Pelham, yet the mayor gets $800k.:lance: