Waste Of The Day: Lawless Spending In California City
https://realclearwire.com/articles/2025/03/27/waste_of_the_day_lawless_spending_in_california_city_1100246.html
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Topline: The City of Bell, California faced several scandals in the 2010s, culminating in corruption convictions for City Administrator Robert Rizzo and six other officials.
The “https://web.archive.org/web/20150106024603/http:/www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/oversightaction
away from the city. That money would be worth $8.1 million today.
Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname "Dr. No" by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn't stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.
https://web.archive.org/web/20141109092947/http:/www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve&File_id=4a184ddb-cd85-4052-b38b-5a1116acca8c
included 100 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $11.5 billion, including the beginning of Bell’s years of controversy.
Key facts: California Controller John Chiang found that Rizzo spent $293,000 in federal grants without approval from Bell’s city council and without signing actual contracts.
The total included $100,000 from a federal oil recycling program that Rizzo gave to a local company owned by Bell’s director of planning services.
Later investigations found absurd salaries for Rizzo and other Bell employees. Rizzo was paying himself an annual salary and benefits package of https://www.cbsnews.com/news/robert-rizzo-update-former-bell-city-manager-pleads-no-contest-to-69-charges-faces-10-years-in-prison/
. Prosecutors alleged that at one point, his total pay had reached $12 million.
Four out of five city council members earned salaries above https://abcnews.go.com/US/bell-calif-city-leaders-arrested-salary-scandal/story?id=11691192
, even though the council met twice per year. The remaining councilman earned only $8,000.
At the time, a quarter of Bell’s population was living below the poverty line.
In 2014, Rizzo was https://www.courthousenews.com/bells-rizzo-handed-12-year-sentence/
to 10 to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay $8.8 million in restitution to the city. He got another 33 months in jail for federal tax fraud.
Summary: Today, Bell City Manager Michael Antwine II makes a salary of https://www.openthebooks.com/members/employer-detail/?Id=32187&tab=1
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The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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Mon, 03/31/2025 - 18:25
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/waste-day-lawless-spending-california-city