Get Back To The Chopper.

[Theophilus]

California Official's $800,000 Salary in City of 38,000 Triggers Protests - Bloomberg (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-07-20/california-official-s-800-000-salary-in-city-of-38-000-triggers-protests.html)

Here is an article if true, is a level of corruption I myself didn't think possible in the state of California.

I'm a California resident, and looking at this article........

I just could not believe this. It just can't be true I was thinking to myself.

I can't find any other articles on line to back this up, so it may not be true.

Let me say anyway if this is true.........

Then California should get back some of this money and start filling some of the pot holes in my town, dammit.

Not to mention if true, our taxes should not be increased by one cent.

I would ask some of the great members of realscam if they could help me out, and let me know if this is really true. Also if true I would like to know your thoughts on this.

Thank in advance,

Theophilus.

[Soapboxmom]

Holy Crap Batman! That looks real and totally disturbing. The economy is struggling with high unemployment and they are paying salaries like that. There is no justification for it and I am shocked they have gotten away with issuing 50 million in bonds. That is city government corruption at its worst. Check out what the Associated Press wrote ( one of 106 articles Google listed):

Associated Press

Posted: 07/20/2010 07:41:25 AM PDT
Updated: 07/20/2010 07:41:26 AM PDT


BELL — The Bell City Council has ordered its staff to look into city salaries after reports that some officials are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

The council ordered the report Monday night at a meeting where hundreds of irate residents shouted at their leaders, threatened a recall and demanded tougher action.

They called for the firing of Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, who earns more than $787,000 a year for overseeing a Los Angeles suburb with fewer than 40,000 residents.

The police chief earns about $457,000 a year, twice what Los Angeles police Chief Charlie Beck gets.

Most City Council members draw nearly $100,000 a year for part-time work.

The district attorney's office is investigating to see if the salaries violate California law.
Yikes!

Soapboxmom

[Whip]

Don't know if this will help or not:
Search for State Worker Salaries (http://www.sacbee.com/statepay)

You should be able to just select whatever dept of the State you want and it should show all the employees and their salaries. Here in NJ we have a similar website called 'datauniverse'

Here is another article:

http://dailybail.com/home/meet-california-public-employee-robert-rizzo-news-of-his-800.html

[A Life Aloft]

What is even worse, is that the city of Bell is tiny, very poor and very unsafe. It's a rat hole for the most part. I think the population is only about 44k. People make little money who live there. The average job in that city pays less than 20k a year so most people commute to somewhere, but even those that do, are still living way below the Federal government's standards for poverty income. It has a very high crime rate and none of these elected officials have done anything to help that or the citizens. It's less than three square miles in size. The astounding and outrageous figures that are paid by the citizens taxes is abominable. They have been allowed to rape and pillage this poor community for many years. They give themselves 12% raises every single year! Who the hell gets a 12% raise any more?

[Theophilus]

Yes this looks to be true. This is just terrible. Here I am in California with services declining, roads going to hell, teachers being laid off, and schools closing. Not only that but police services as well are declining.

So this is what I am paying for as a home owner (bank owned I should say) and a tax payer.

Really, as far as I am concerned this should lead to criminal charges, this is beyond messed up.

The only way things like this will change is jail time for these criminals. This is criminal.

What could you say to a judge (that is not payed off and part of the problem) that could justify this corruption, this rip off of the tax payers in California?

My goodness all the money problems California has, I guess this explains part of the problem. Now I wonder how many other stories similar to this one will come out in California?

Thanks a lot Arnold, looks like it's time for you to get back to the Chopper.

[Theophilus]

What is even worse, is that the city of Bell is tiny, very poor and very unsafe. It's a rat hole for the most part. I think the population is only about 44k. People make little money who live there. The average job in that city pays less than 20k a year so most people commute to somewhere, but even those that do, are still living way below the Federal government's standards for poverty income. It has a very high crime rate and none of these elected officials have done anything to help that or the citizens. It's less than three square miles in size. The astounding and outrageous figures that are paid by the citizens taxes is abominable. They have been allowed to rape and pillage this poor community for many years. They give themselves 12% raises every single year! Who the hell gets a 12% raise any more?

I am really upset by this. This is an outrage. If I lived there I would call for a law that showed how every single penny of the peoples tax payers dollars were being spent.

This is just too much. I knew it was bad, I didn't know it was this bad.

All the problems California has, and we have these worthless bureaucrats sucking us dry.

How do these people live with themselves?

[A Life Aloft]

The corruption at every city, county, state and federal level in this country has been monumentous and out of control for many, many decades. There is no real and accurate accounting and no accountability whatsoever. Meanwhile, all of the fees, every type of tax imaginable, licenses, you name it continue to rise and be foisted upon the public to pay for this horrible machine that continues to grind away the soul of every citizen of this once great nation.

If people had even a clue of ten percent of what goes on, they would or should be rioting in the streets. Or maybe not. I think sadly, that most people have just given up and feel so overwhelmed and so powerless to stop any of it. It's just so enormous. We have just resigned ourselves to try and cope and survive the best that we can. People are struggling and they are tired. We feel helpless to stop or change anything. The populous has been beaten down, subdued, scattered and controlled. Perhaps that is now government’s goal, after all is said and done. We the People, For the People, By the People is only a distant, vague dream now. It's for the super rich, the mega rich and the career politicans. There is little left over for plain, ordinary, hard working, average citizen. Just the need to have us constantly financially supporting what gives back little or nothing to us of any real value.

[A Life Aloft]

I am really upset by this. This is an outrage. If I lived there I would call for a law that showed how every single penny of the peoples tax payers dollars were being spent.

This is just too much. I knew it was bad, I didn't know it was this bad.

All the problems California has, and we have these worthless bureaucrats sucking us dry.

How do these people live with themselves?They make their millions, get all their perks, expenses, decorated offices, cell phones, trips, tickets to ballgames, cars, every kind of pay off and gift under the sun and then get their huge fat ass pensions with all the bennies for the rest of their lives.

The Mayor of L.A. itself is no better. Same crap, just another politician. He gets free tickets to every concert, ball game, the Emmys, movie premiere, any event, you name it and claims he's on offficial business as he is the Mayor and representing the City of L.A. He takes trips to Europe, rides in a chauffeured limo like a rock star, has his meals catered, his clothing custom made, you name it. And guess who pays for all of this? You and me. You and me.

The City Council Members in L.A. get several hundreds of thousands a year just to refurbish and redecorate their offices and get new furniture. lmao

[Theophilus]

I am worried as a truck driver, because I see businesses closing all the time, and I think to myself "who am I going to deliver product to"

I used to see only one guy at the freeway off ramp looking for money. Now it is families standing at the off ramps. I am sure you have seen this as well.

All this breaks my heart, also I know I could be there. I mean what I am going to do as more and more stores close shop.

Who am I going to deliver to?

One thing is for sure, over the years the people in power have not really been too friendly to the small business owner.

I really don't know what is going to happen, I just try to do my job and hope for the best.

Though I'd be a fool if I said I was not concerned.

I am.

[A Life Aloft]

It gets worse. Remember little Meg Whitman? She ran on the campaign to crack down on illegal aliens. To crack down on employees who hire them. To support the borders and their security and on and on and on. She won the nomination because of this in this state and only because of this. Now suddenly she is taking out billboards in Spanish, having interviews in Spanish speaking newspapers and on Spanish radio stations and talking about amnesty and that she is against Arizona's new law regarding illegals. They all lie. Evey damn one of them. You can't trust any politician any further than you can spit. She used her billions to run a totally phony campaign. ($90 million in fact) Now I have no one to vote for, yet again. What's the point, they all only serve themselves in the long run and not the citizens anyways.

[A Life Aloft]

I am really worried about what will happen when Bush's tax cuts are no longer in effect after the end of this year. How many lay-offs and businesses closing and downsizing will we see then? I am trying to expand and have been trying since we moved to a much larger facility and complex. And I am working harder and much longer hours than I ever imagined in the process and because of the economy to a great extent. I worry deeply about everything in this state. Businesses have fled this state by the thousands or just folded. The taxes keep getting worse and the fees and the licenses for eveything. Foreclosures were even higher last month. The jobless rate here is horrific. Everyone I know is worried, believe me. It's a hot mess.

Not only who will you deliver product to, but who will be left to buy them and how much will sell? People are not spending money here. They are trying to survive, pay their bills off, keep their homes and hanging on to what cash they have and trying to build up their reserves. That is those who still have a damn job.

[Theophilus]

It gets worse. Remember little Meg Whitman? She ran on the campaign to crack down on illegal aliens. To crack down on employees who hire them. To support the borders and their security and on and on and on. She won the nomination because of this in this state and only because of this. Now suddenly she is taking out billboards in Spanish, having interviews in Spanish speaking newspapers and on Spanish radio stations and talking about amnesty and that she is against Arizona's new law regarding illegals. They all lie. Evey damn one of them. You can't trust any politician any further than you can spit. She used her billions to run a totally phony campaign. ($90 million in fact) Now I have no one to vote for, yet again. What's the point, they all only serve themselves in the long run and not the citizens anyways.

I am more concerned about this then you could possibly imagine. Here was a person I was supporting, and now this.

Lets just look at this from a political point of view.

Meg just pissed off the people who would of supported her. Now she is throwing all that money, all that time spent, to make herself known as a fraud.

First talk about a waste of money, second because now she has handed the governorship to Brown.

Now because of Meg, it looks like Brown will win, and even if Meg won, it looks like California looses.

I have to tell you though, I am terrified by what a Brown governorship may bring.

Though now I am not sure Meg is far behind Brown.

[A Life Aloft]

I have to tell you, they are not much different. They both want amnesty. Hell, they are both horrible. Again, just another election that I don't want anyone to win that is running and I am left with no one to vote for. It happens so often the last many years on a State and Federal level, I have just given up even bothering most of the time, sadly. Jerry just needs to move to assisted living. Seriously. lol

[littleroundman]

The only thing about the story is that anyone is surprised by the fact a politician and/or bureaucrat is proven to be self serving.

All we are seeing here is yet ANOTHER example of what we like to call "democracy" in action.

Call me an old cynic if you like, but I'd only be surprised if a politician DIDN'T serve themselves and/or their party before their pleb.....err..... serva.....err.....those they "serve"

[Theophilus]

The only thing about the story is that anyone is surprised by the fact a politician and/or bureaucrat is proven to be self serving.

All we are seeing here is yet ANOTHER example of what we like to call "democracy" in action.

Call me an old cynic if you like, but I'd only be surprised if a politician DIDN'T serve themselves and/or their party before their pleb.....err..... serva.....err.....those they "serve"

One has to wonder why Meg would bother. Why spend all that money only to lose?

Meg, you had the governorship in your hands, and you threw it away.

My question to Meg would be.......

Why did you throw all that money away, and why do you not give a damn for California?

F**k you Meg, I am not voting for you.

[iamwil]

If it is a city, it would have city council meetings, as I see it the public has allowed themselves to get raped and pillaged for years if this is all the case, and there is no justification for the salaries beyond what we know.

I lived in a city that had an ex police chief for mayor...and he wanted our city to have its own police force instead of paying the county. The numbers they presented for costs were low, and I stood up and said so. (You have to actually take part in public gov't if you want to bitch about public gov't) They railroaded ti through...

I've left that city...let others pay the taxes...the annual cost of their police force is currently over 3x what was proposed 6 years ago...and rising...just give them a few more years and they will be paying for cops injured on duty...and families of cops killed on duty...another 10 years and they will have officers retiring....and then we'll see where those projections end up.

[A Life Aloft]

I get it now....so it's the poor citizens of Bell's fault then. You have no compassion do you? No empathy and no sympathy. How very Christian of you. I doubt seriously that most citizens of any city know exactly what their various officials make in the way of a salary and perks. It is now a new (elected 6 months ago) city councilman who is asking for the investigation and the resignations. He makes 155.00 a week by the way. He had no idea that the City Manager was pulling down $800,000.00 a year and that his fellow councilmen were making over a hundred grand a year, nor the other salaries. It's not like this was made public or published anywhere. Greedy CEOs have done much of the same behavior. They rape their own companies and employees and pay themselves millions and bonuses and huge perks. Then they file bankruptcy in some cases. Look at the banks and the Airlines for example.

People that are barely making ends meet cannot afford to just "move" either. And it's a pretty well known fact that people who are often so poor that they are struggling every day just to exist and survive and have children for example to take care of, don't go to City Council meetings or are even that involved in government activities. Also, these meetings are held in the evenings and the crime rates in this city and gang activity is very high. Many people simply do not venture out at night. They feel unsafe to do so. Yet, you blame them and not the assholes making these ridiculous salaries. Interesting perspective. Cruel, lacking compassion and mean, but interesting.

People do stand up and speak and vote and protest and what good does it do them? You yourself said it didn't do you any good and the issue that you were concerned about was passed anyway. That is the point here.

Government no longer serves the people on any level in this country. It serves themselves only. And Politicians lie. They all lie. They all misrepresent themselves to the public. The "public" at large is never listened to. Look at various polls regarding bills passed by the Congress and the Senate. When the public is against something it is passed anyways. Letter writing campaigns and phone campaigns are mounted enmasse to their elected leaders and what good does all of it do? Nothing. Nothing at all. Anyone who believes differently is either a fool, naive or both.

People literally took to the streets here last year en masse in many cities when the Legislature wanted to tax us even further than we already are. What happened? They raised every fee and license possible on every citizen and on every business instead. They got their blood money one way or another. The Department of Water and Power in Los Angels is sitting on millions in their coffers, made a huge profit besides and yet raised everyone's bills to ridiculous amounts. Corruption and greed never ends and it's never going to.

[Emet]

Corruption and greed never ends and it's never going to.

Sad, but true.

"It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
-Winston Churchill

[Soapboxmom]

Update:

Calif. City Officials Resign in Salary Scandal

Published July 23, 2010
| Associated Press



AP

July 22: A Bell police officer patrols outside a special city council meeting to consider the firing of top officials in Bell, Calif.


BELL, Calif.-- Three administrators whose huge salaries sparked outrage in this small blue-collar suburb of Los Angeles have agreed to resign, the City Council said Friday.

Council members emerged from an hours-long closed session at midnight Friday and announced that they'd accepted the resignations of Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo, Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia and Police Chief Randy Adams.

Rizzo was the highest paid at $787,637 a year -- nearly twice the pay of President Barack Obama -- for overseeing one of the poorest towns in Los Angeles County.

Spaccia makes $376,288 a year and Adams earns $457,000, 50 percent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck.

The three will not receive severance packages, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday. Rizzo will step down at the end of August and Spaccia will leave at the end of September. Adams will also leave at the end of August, after completing an evaluation of the police department, the Times said.

"I'm happy that they resigned but I'm disappointed at the pension that they're going to receive," said Ali Saleh, a member of the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse or BASTA.

Rizzo would be entitled to a state pension of more than $650,000 a year for life, according to calculations made by the Times. That would make Rizzo, 56, the highest-paid retiree in the state pension system.

Adams could get more than $411,000 a year.

Spaccia, 51, could be eligible for as much as $250,000 a year when she reaches 55, though the figure is less precise than for the other two officials, the Times said.

Saleh said the crowd applauded after the announcement but immediately yelled out questions about what would happen to the council members. Four of the five of them are paid close to $100,000 annually for part-time work. When the crowd's questions were not answered, they shouted, "Recall!, Recall!"

Revelations about the pay in Bell has sparked anger in the city of fewer than 40,000 residents. Census figures from 2008 show 17 percent of the population lives in poverty.

Enraged residents have staged protests demanding the firings and started a recall campaign against some council members.

"Woo-hoo, the salaries. Wow. What can I say? I think that's unbelievable," Christina Caldera, a 20-year resident of the city, said as she stood in line at a food bank.

Caldera, who is struggling after recently losing her job as a drug and alcohol counselor, said she generally was satisfied with the way the city was being run but felt high-paid officials should take a pay cut.

"What are they doing with all that money?" she asked. "Maybe they could put it into more jobs for other people."

Attempts to leave messages seeking comment from Rizzo and Spaccia failed because their voicemails were full. A message left for Adams was not immediately returned.

The county district attorney's office is investigating to determine if the high salaries for the council members violate any state laws. The City Council also intends to review city salaries, including those of its own members, according to Councilman Luis Artiga and Mayor Oscar Hernandez.

"We are going to analyze all the city payrolls and possibly will revise all the salaries of the city," Artiga said.

However, both men said they considered the City Council pay to be justified.

"We work a lot. I work with my community every day," the mayor said, as he shook hands with and embraced people leaving the food bank Thursday.

Council members are on call around the clock, and it is not uncommon for them to take calls in the middle of the night from people reporting problems with city services, Artiga said.

Though many residents are poor, Hernandez said they live in a city they can be proud of, one with a $22.7 million budget surplus, clean streets, refurbished parks and numerous programs for people of all ages. He pointed proudly down a street to a park filled with new exercise equipment.

When Rizzo arrived 17 years ago, Hernandez said, the city was $13 million in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy. Rizzo obtained government grants to aid the city, the mayor said.

Rizzo was arrested near his home in Huntington Beach in March and charged with misdemeanor drunken driving. He pleaded not guilty and is due back in court for an Aug. 5 hearing, said Farrah Emami, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney's office.

The Los Angeles Times reported the salaries last week, prompting a large protest Monday at City Hall in which residents shouted and demanded that Rizzo be fired.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown said his office has launched an investigation in conjunction with the state's public employee retirement agency into pension and related benefits for Bell's civic leaders..

More from MyFoxLA.com
Scumbags have resigned and no doubt are going to head out of Dodge!

Soapboxmom

[A Life Aloft]

To bad they couldn't revoke their pensions as well. Rizzo lives in a million dollar home near the beach, in Huntington Beach. And they wonder why this state has been on the verge of bankruptcy for several years. Bastards!

[Emet]

Recent articles:

Bell council cuts salaries 90%; some will forgo pay - latimes.com (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-bell-salaries-20100727,0,1970663.story?track=rss)

Bell city manager was charged with misdemeanor drunken driving - HB Independent (http://www.hbindependent.com/news/tn-hbi-0729-bell-20100729,0,3662892.story)

[A Life Aloft]

There is so much more to this hot mess. I think the outting of the truth and the investigation will continue for sometime to come. The citizens want these guys out and prosecuted. The b.s. about them saying they will work for free is just that....b.s. No one wants them. One of the three just appointed himself head of the city's homeless shelter at a salarey of 100 grand a year! ROTFL! He did this yesterday! The fricking nerve! They held a special election to make the city a Charter city a few years back, which was what enabled them to then set these ridiculous salaries and not follow the State guidelines and rules. The problem is no ballots were ever sent to the citizens, nothing was publicized, and only 350 people voted in the election! It is highly suspected that their friends, business associates relatives and people they paid off voted. Fraud city. This is also being investigated. They have been milking the city dry ever since. They laid off all kinds of city workers, reduced the budgets to keep the parks going, afterschool programs for kids, and for Police protection and other items, to keep their own salaries going. It's beyond a disgrace. This is one of the worst scenarios of immoral political greed that I have ever seen. I can only hope that trials and jail time await these scumbags sooner rather than later. This story is far from over and when all the details and dirty tricks come to light, people will be even more shocked and outraged. Jerry Brown, the Attorney General is now on this as well and the L.A. Times who broke the story and even our worthless Governator and more. It's going to get ugly. Very ugly. The City Manager just might have to sell that million dollar home of his in Huntington Beach that he bought with the blood sweat and tears of the poor and hard working citizens of Bell, to pay for his attorney fees. To think how these bastards ripped off this tiny poor town and it's citizens is just beyond comprehension.

[Theophilus]

I was in Vernon, CA. a couple of days ago. I asked some of the people there about the corruption going on in Bell.

I think outraged might be an understatement.

[A Life Aloft]

Hi Buddy!

Ken and John did a show this week from Bell and those citizens are ready for blood! Here are some pics form the show they did there:

KFI AM 640 More Stimulating Talk Radio (http://www.kfiam640.com/pages/jk2010.html)

More crap today. The FBI is getting involved, (election fraud and some other stuff being looked into) The State Controller says he is going to audit the city's books for the last seven years and Jerry Brown is investigating and he issued a boat load of subpoenas today, but get this.....the City Managers office, which was locked up was breached yesterday and some men "in suits" took out a bunch of papers and records. This is the news being leaked by the locksmith who supposedly was called in to open the office. Problem is, the State Controller's office, the Sheriffs office, Brown's office or the FBI when contacted today, have all said it wasn't them! Now the search is one for who the hell was in there and what did they take. So that is being checked out and The Los Angeles District Attorney is now involved and investing voter fraud in the mock election that was held to make the city a Charter where only 350 people voted and no notices were sent to any homes, but....

"The Los Angeles County district attorney's office says it is investigating allegations that off-duty police officers in Bell went door-to-door with absentee ballots last year and attempted to tell people how to vote.

District attorney's spokeswoman Jane Robison says the office is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of Bell, including allegations about the officers. The district attorney and California attorney general are also investigating huge salaries paid to city leaders."

I am telling you when the months of investigations pan out and everything, all the dirt and the connections and ties are discovered and linked, it's going to be very interesting.

[Theophilus]

I enjoy listening to the John and Ken show on KFI, those guys are good. I was looking for more info about this story, and I must of come across the same article you did or one similar about the voter fraud.

Former Bell police officer alleges serious voting irregularities in 2009 election - latimes.com (http://www.latimes.com/news/la-bellelex27-m,0,7727148.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+ Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29)

I missed that show with John and Ken, though it had to be a very good show.

I am wondering just how far this goes.

This is just horrible beyond belief.

[iamwil]

I've got to find the article....but a city right next to them has got some work to do because of this.

This city got rid of all of its public workers....laid them all off, police force and everything and outsourced the work to private industry or other neighboring cities... big savings...

Some of the work was outsourced to Bell.

[A Life Aloft]

I enjoy listening to the John and Ken show on KFI, those guys are good. I was looking for more info about this story, and I must of come across the same article you did or one similar about the voter fraud.

Former Bell police officer alleges serious voting irregularities in 2009 election - latimes.com (http://www.latimes.com/news/la-bellelex27-m,0,7727148.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+ Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29)

I missed that show with John and Ken, though it had to be a very good show.

I am wondering just how far this goes.

This is just horrible beyond belief.Well the latest is more of just the tip of the ice berg. They have discovered that the men whoo hired the locksmith and opened the office andf took computer hard drives and boxes of files and paperworks for a team of forensic auditors hired by the city of Bell no less! They have hired attorneys because they know they are getting their asses sued soon. The news interm City manager admitted this today. Can you believe this crap? They are trying to hide evidence and cover their butts.

It gets better. They have moved all the workers in the City Hall of Bell over next door to the City Hall at Maywood to try and dodge reporters and protesting citizens. lmao

It has now been discovered by the L.A. Times and who knows who...that several other bell City officials were getting salaries of over 400 grand a year. Hopefully their names will be released soon.

And other cities in L.A. are up in arms because they will be stuck footing a large part these ridiculous pensions to these crooks as well.

Plus from the Times: "City Managers will gather in Sacramento on Thursday to discuss damage control. Some say more residents are seeking salary information from city halls. The Legislature considers reforms as well. Among the ideas on the table: launching an independent examination of city officials' salaries and compiling a database of salaries for municipal executives.

The Legislature also is mulling several Bell-inspired proposals, including a requirement that cities make salaries easily accessible on websites. Another suggestion would cap pensions of highly paid city officials, an issue that arose after The Times reported that former Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo, who earned nearly $800,000 a year, would receive roughly $600,000 a year in pension benefits once he retired.

Many of the ideas are designed to put political distance between Bell and the rest of California's 480 cities and towns. "It would be really unfortunate if anyone took the outrageous action of one city and generalized it to all cities," said Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities, which is hosting the meeting.

The stories of soaring salaries come at a difficult time for cities, which are making cutbacks amid a recession that has made many taxpayers ever more interested in what services they get for their tax dollars.

In Sacramento, the Bell salary controversy threatens to undermine the arguments made by city managers against state budget proposals that would take money away from municipalities. For months, city officials have lobbied the Legislature, arguing that they are suffering financially because of the economic slump and cannot afford deeper cuts.

"However, the Times story suggests this duress may not apply to all our cities, or that some cities are not allowing their economic plight to curtail Fortune 500-level salaries for their senior executives,'' State Senate President Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) wrote in a pointed letter to the League of Cities last week.

At a time of low public confidence in government, the Bell revelations pose another threat to the credibility of local officials.

"It just makes for a toxic environment," said Max Neiman, senior resident scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley.

City clerks, human resource directors and finance officers said they have been processing an influx of public records requests for public officials' salary figures since the revelations of the salary paid to Rizzo as well as Bell's police chief, who made $457,000, and the assistant city manager, who made $376,000.

Officials have found themselves repeating the mantra, "We're not Bell," to concerned residents.

Figuring out exactly how much top city leaders make can be difficult, however. The base salary of city officials is usually the most easily accessible number, but it rarely captures the total compensation. City leaders also can be paid through car and phone allowances, housing agreements or deferred compensation plans. In some cases, city managers can receive a separate salary by holding a different position or serving on a board or commission.

Those extras can significantly boost total compensation, but they are difficult to sort out.

Take the case of Laguna Hills. Barbara Kogerman, who ran for City Council in the Orange County suburb, sought the assistance of three local graduate students to figure out how much City Manager Bruce Channing earned and how his pay compared to that of other Orange County city managers.

Collecting the information was difficult, in part because each city offered data in a unique format, the students said.

In the case of Laguna Hills, the students said Channing received a base salary of $233,430 but calculated his total earnings at $460,809 after including $227,379 in additional payments.

Channing strongly disputed the report, calling it "factually inaccurate and misleading" because it included what he said were reimbursements for phone bills, travel costs and other expenses.

"What it costs an organization to equip an individual to perform their duties is not the same as the salary that the individual is paid," Channing said.

The Internal Revenue Service has rules designed to distinguish between legitimate reimbursements for business expenses and disguised forms of compensation, but applying those rules to individual cases can be tricky.

Channing, the vice president of the League of California Cities' City Managers Department, plans to attend the meetings today in Sacramento and said action is needed in the wake of the Bell revelations.

Making total compensation figures easier to look up is one of several items on the agenda in Sacramento.

Assemblyman Hector De La Torre (D- South Gate) said legislation he is working on may go beyond requiring public disclosure to also restrict how compensation and pensions are provided.

"We're looking at how you can limit aspects of contracts that are completely out of whack with prevailing practices, including salaries,'' De La Torre said, calling Bell's compensation "ridiculous."

He also has consulted with the California Public Employees Retirement System on possible legislation to limit cities' ability to award excessive pensions, the cost of which must be borne by all government agencies paying into the system.

As The Times has reviewed city manager salaries, it has found a few officials who have actually taken pay cuts during the tough financial times.

For instance, the city managers of Signal Hill, Santa Fe Springs and Redondo Beach reduced their pay or declined merit bonuses, as did the entire city staff of Bellflower

"To see people doing what they've apparently done in Bell offends me on a personal level," said Bellflower Assistant City Manager Leo Mingle. "It's obscene."

[A Life Aloft]

here is more...these poor people have just been raped and pillaged:

Homes of the same value in richer cities are taxed at a much lower rate, county tax records show. Residents are already angry about excessive salaries paid to officials.

The small working-class city of Bell not only paid officials the highest salaries in the state: Residents also pay the highest property tax rates of all but one of Los Angeles County's 88 cities, county tax records show.

The records appear to confirm complaints by Bell residents who have expressed outrage that they seemed to be paying excessive taxes at the same time the city was paying its top administrator nearly $800,000 and council members were paying themselves nearly $100,000.

"They're robbing us of our money," said Juan Madrid, 64, who has owned his tidy yellow home with peach trim on Walker Avenue for about 30 years

Like other residents of this largely immigrant city of about 39,000, he has watched as his property taxes have climbed in the last few years while the value of his home has slumped.

All county property owners pay 1% general property tax, along with special or direct assessments levied by their municipalities. The countywide average of all tax rates is 1.16%, or $11.60 for every $1,000 of assessed value.

The rate in Bell is 1.55%.

That means the owner of a home in Bell with an assessed value of $400,000 pays about $6,200 in annual property taxes. The owner of the same house in Malibu, whose rate is 1.10%, would pay just $4,400.

Bell's property tax rate is nearly 50% greater than those in such affluent enclaves as Beverly Hills, Palos Verdes Estates and Manhattan Beach, and significantly higher than just about everywhere else in the county, according to records provided by the county auditor-controller's office at The Times' request.

The only place with a higher rate than Bell's is the City of Industry — but it has only 21 residential parcels that are affected. Bell has 2,065 single-family homes and 1,568 residential rentals, according to city documents, which include 522 commercial-industrial properties in a total assessed valuation of $1.4 billion.

The Times reported earlier this week that the city had cut spending on police and community services, even as it continued to raise salaries for City Manager Robert Rizzo, Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia and Police Chief Randy Adams to some of the highest in the nation.

Rizzo was paid $787,637 a year, Adams' salary was $457,000 and Spaccia's was $376,000. All three resigned amid public uproar after The Times reported the amounts earlier this month.

Their salaries and Bell's hefty property taxes contrast sharply with city residents' financial standing. Median household income in Bell, just southeast of Los Angeles, is $40,556 — well below the countywide average of $57,152.

The city's tax rate is due to a combination of factors, records show: among them, bond debt for municipal improvements such as a sports complex now under construction and a "retirement tax" approved by local voters in 1944 that put property owners on the hook for some of the cost of municipal employees' pensions.

Since 2006, county records show, those local taxes have doubled. So have direct assessments for trash collection, sewer maintenance and other services.

In 2005, Bell voters approved a measure that adopted a City Charter, a move that allowed council members to get around state limits on their salaries. It is unclear what bearing, if any, that had on raising property taxes.

Revenue from the tax increases went to designated funds or services and did not directly pay for administrators' salaries. But by freeing money from the city's general fund, the higher taxes appear to have made the outsized salaries more feasible for the small city.

For at least 20 years before 2007, the retirement tax — formally known as a Post-retirement Benefits Fund-Pension Obligation — had stayed at the same rate of 0.187%.

In 2007, two years after the city issued nearly $10 million in bonds to finance a loan to cover its unfunded pension liability, the City Council passed a resolution calling for a series of hikes over the next three years. The current rate is 0.277%, or half again what it was three years ago.

The council also passed a resolution that year nearly doubling assessments for services including refuse collection, which went from $14.71 a month for a single-family residence to $26.48 a month.

And this year, a 0.09% assessment kicked in to cover the $15-million debt on a sports complex that is planned to include a soccer field, baseball stadium and a gym at a projected cost of $10 million to $15 million, as well as other improvements including a library and performing arts center. Taxpayers' assessments for the improvements, which voters approved several years ago, will increase over the next two years, records show.

And that's not all.

The city's most recent comprehensive annual financial report, for the fiscal year ended June 2009, suggests the retirement tax will continue to go up. It says Bell has thus far "opted to assess below the authorized amount" it can assess to pay for pensions.

"In the future, the City intends to gradually increase the tax levy to the full amount required to meet the City's pension costs," according to the report, which noted that the city's general fund now loans money to the retirement fund to cover costs.

The Times has previously reported that Rizzo could become the state's highest-paid pensioner, receiving an annual benefit of roughly $600,000.

His two colleagues also appear to be in line for large pensions, although the state's pension board has said no benefits will be paid until investigations into Bell's actions are completed.

Even as their bills grew , many in town thought they were in the same tax boat as property owners elsewhere.

"I didn't realize we were so unique here in this little community," said Dorothy Danna, 68, a widow who has lived in Bell for 40 years and is losing her home to foreclosure. "I thought everyone paid as much as we did. . . . That does not make me very happy."

Danna's total property tax bill rose from about $3,000 in 2005 to about $4,000 this year, while the assessed value during that time has grown at a significantly smaller rate.

She blames her foreclosure more on an ill-advised adjustable-rate refinancing than on the unpaid back taxes that have piled up with her delinquent house payments.

But it still makes her see red to think she was footing so much of the bill for a city government that lavished money on the people who were supposed to be running it wisely.

"I sure hope they all get what they deserve," she said.

[A Life Aloft]

The Police Chief of Bell, who is already going to be investigated for his part in this fiasco now has this added to his problems, the *******:

Glendale has joined two other cities in trying to block what could be hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional pension payments for Randy Adams, whose lucrative stint as police chief of Bell continues to have far-reaching consequences via the state's complicated employee retirement system.

Adams, who worked for the police departments in Simi Valley and Ventura before coming to Glendale, was forced to step down last week as police chief of Bell amid growing outcry over his $457,000 salary in a relatively poor city of about 40,000 people.

City officials at first believed that the $457,000 salary Adams received in Bell would not increase the money they paid to the state employee retirement system, or CalPERS, for his five years in Glendale. But a review by Glendale's state pension actuary determined that Adams' brief stint in Bell will cost Glendale taxpayers between $500,000 and $600,000 in additional benefits, or about $40,000 a year for the length of his retirement.

City officials in Simi Valley and Ventura also said they expect to take a substantial hit.

Simi Valley City Manager Mike Sedell said he believes his city will be on the hook for between $35,000 and $40,000 more each year than it would have if Adams had retired from Glendale, where he earned roughly $215,000 a year.

Ventura City Manager Rick Cole said he thinks his city will be forced to pay even more because Adams worked there for roughly 20 years. Cole declined to put a dollar figure on the expected cost.

All three officials said they have yet to get a detailed picture from CalPERS on the impact of Adams' revised retirement costs.

Sedell, the city manager at Simi Valley, said cities set aside retirement money for each qualified employee based on CalPERS formulas for how much the person is expected to receive in retirement benefits. The formulas determine how much money will come from CalPERS investments and how much is required from employers throughout the worker's career.

The final retirement payout is based on the year of highest earnings. When those earnings jump at the end of a career, it renders the prior retirement payouts short of what is needed.

"If that highest-year pay exceeds what PERS assumes, it can be a big cost bite," said Glendale City Manager Jim Starbird.

On Monday, Starbird sent a letter to California Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, asking him to investigate the matter.

"We actively support and encourage your seeking a full investigation as to not only the circumstances surrounding the payment of the significant salary, which now adds to the financial obligations of Glendale, but whether there is any legal basis to set aside the salary or a portion of the benefit based thereon," Starbird wrote in the letter to Brown.

Ventura and Simi Valley joined the request.

"This is so patently an abuse of the retirement system that our cities are moving quickly to make sure it is an abuse that does not burden our cities or our budgets," Cole said.

In his 20 years in Ventura, Adams rose to the rank of assistant chief, before leaving to become police chief in Simi Valley.

He then came to Glendale, during which time he applied for the appointment to interim Orange County sheriff. After being eliminated from consideration there, he soon announced his intent to retire, but then Bell made an offer that at the time he declined to disclose.

A Los Angeles Times investigation earlier this month revealed his salary to be $457,000.

Adams, along with Bell City Manager Robert Rizzo and Assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia, resigned last week as outcry grew over their salaries. Rizzo was earning nearly $800,000 a year.

Adams' estimated pension payout is about $400,000 — or roughly double what he would have received before spending a year in Bell, CalPERS spokesman Edward Fong said.

It could take up to two weeks for the results of CalPERS' own probe into whether the salary and resulting pension hike fall within state regulations, Fong added.

"We want what's fair for retirees and for taxpayers," Cole said. "This is an outrageous example of unfairness, and I think all three cities are inclined to ensure that fairness prevails in the end. We will not allow abuses elsewhere to impact our taxpayers here.

[A Life Aloft]

Today, Downey cut it's ties, that is fired the law team that is representing the City of Bell and who took the records out of the office. lmao

A divided City Council voted 3-2 Thursday to terminate its contract with law firm Best Best & Krieger, which is representing the city of Bell through its current turmoil.

Council members who voted for termination of the contract praised lead counsel Ed Lee but said they were concerned of "guilt by association."

Lee, of the Best Best & Krieger law firm, has served as Downey's city attorney since 2007.

According to the city of Downey's contract with Best Best & Krieger, the law firm may be terminated "at any time and without cause" with 30 days notice.

Lee was not available for comment after the meeting.

Good for them!

[Soapboxmom]

Rizzo Among 8 Arrested in Bell Scandal

Updated: Tuesday, 21 Sep 2010, 6:26 PM PDT

Published : Tuesday, 21 Sep 2010, 10:11 AM PDT

Text Story by: (http://www.myfoxla.com/)
Associated Press (http://www.myfoxla.com/)
Posted by: Dennis Lovelace, Tony Spearman / myFOXla.com
Bell - The mayor and former city manager of Bell were led away in handcuffs Tuesday, charged with six other officials with taking more than $5.5 million from the working-class suburb in a scandal that triggered nationwide outrage and calls for more transparency in government.

Former City Manager Robert Rizzo, Mayor Oscar Hernandez and the other current and former city officials were rounded up during morning raids on their homes that prompted many of their neighbors to burst into cheers.

They were charged with dozens of counts of illegally paying themselves huge salaries in what District Attorney Steve Cooley called a case of "corruption on steroids."
"They used the taxes of the hardworking citizens of Bell as their own piggy bank, which they looted," Cooley told a news conference as he stood next to photos of the eight suspects.
In Bell, where one in six residents lives in poverty, people began honking their horns at the news of the arrests. At City Hall, dozens gathered to laugh and applaud as someone played the Queen song "Another One Bites the Dust."

"I got so excited that, oh my God, I couldn't breathe," said Violeta Alvarez, a 31-year resident. "I'm excited. I'm happy. I have tears of joy in my eyes."
Rizzo, who was making nearly $800,000 a year, was booked on 53 counts of misappropriation of public funds and conflict of interest. Messages left at his home and with his attorney were not returned.
He and the others were scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday, with officials seeking bail amounts ranging from $3.2 million for Rizzo to $130,000 for former Councilman George Cole. The amounts were based on how much authorities believe each person took.

Others taken into custody were former assistant city manager Angela Spaccia, Vice Mayor Teresa Jacobo, council members George Mirabal and Luis Artiga and former council member Victor Bello.
Spaccia was making $376,288, and four of the five City Council members were paying themselves nearly $100,000 a year.
"I seen them take out Mirabal in handcuffs," longtime resident Hassan Mourad said after the arrests. "I seen them drag him out."
At the mayor's house, police briefly used a battering ram when Hernandez didn't immediately come to the door.
Former Police Chief Randy Adams, who was also scrutinized in the salary scandal, was not arrested.
Cooley, who knew Adams when he was the police chief in Glendale, said there was no evidence Adams illegally obtained his $457,000 annual salary. The figure was $150,000 more than the Los Angeles chief of police gets paid.

"Being paid excessive salaries is not a crime," Cooley said. "Illegally obtaining those salaries is a crime."
Authorities said Rizzo made $4.3 million by paying himself through different employment contracts that were not approved by the City Council.

Meanwhile, council members paid themselves a combined $1.25 million for what Cooley called "phantom meetings" of various city boards and agencies.
Rizzo also was accused of giving $1.9 million in loans to himself, Spaccia, Hernandez, Artiga and dozens of others.
Cooley said his investigators have pored over more than 60,000 pages of documents and more people could be arrested.
His office began investigating last March, Cooley said, four months before the Los Angeles Times reported the salaries, which brought national attention to the small city of 40,000 people.
Since the scandal broke, public officials, city managers and others have said the situation in Bell showed why people must insist that elected officials communicate honestly and openly with them.
"One of the problems that was obvious with Bell was the lack of transparency and the lack of involvement on the part of the public," Dave Mora, West Coast regional director of the International City/County Management Association, said recently.

Cooley praised the Times, saying the scandal occurred in part because residents and much of the news media paid little attention to what was happening at Bell City Hall until the story broke.
Rizzo, Adams and Spaccia resigned and the council members reduced their salaries to about $8,000 following the disclosures.
The four council members, who are currently the target of a recall, would be forced to resign their positions if convicted, Cooley said.
Bell's interim chief administrative officer Pedro Carrillo said the arrests marked a sad day for the city.
"It is clear that Rizzo and Spaccia were at the root of the cancer that has afflicted the city," he said.
Interim City Attorney Jamie Casso said he expected Bell could carry on business as usual, adding that Carrillo and Lorenzo Velez -- the one council member who wasn't arrested -- were meeting regularly. Velez was not taking a high salary.

The district attorney's office is one of several agencies investigating Bell.
Last week, 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.

Artiga was not named in the lawsuit but Adams was.
Earlier this month Bell officials confirmed the city was also the target of a racial profiling investigation by the federal government for allegedly targeting young Hispanic drivers for traffic stops to raise revenue.

[littleroundman]

Nice.

It's good to see the news of the arrests has even made the headlines Downunder.

Maybe, just maybe, it might just discourage a few of those others with their snouts on the public trough.

[Mike!]

Wow, this is great news, hopefuly it'll be a serious eye opener to other corrupt city governments across the counrty.

[Theophilus]

Just so you know the Get Back to the Chopper thread is about all things Californian.

I did not clarify that in the beginning, so I will do that now.

All things Californian are allowed in this thread.

I found a link about the wasteful spending in California, and some wonder why we are broke.

Link follows..................

The Answer is Staring Us in the Face… | It's All About Liberty! | The Blog of Colonel Pete Stiglich (http://www.colonelpete.com/any-wonder-why-california-is-broke/)

[A Life Aloft]

Wow!! What a terrific article!!! Mind boggling and eye opening. Our politicians are nothing but feeble-minded, greedy, inefficient, self serving, incompetent, greedy, lying, worthless, out of touch, bozos. And those are their good qualities.

When Brown stood up and made his speech after being elected, basically stating that he was clueless and hapless to resolve our state's deficit and budget issues/crisis and that he welcomed any suggestions, I thought I was dreaming. I almost fell outta my chair. Why did he bother to run if he had no plan whatsover and no idea about what to do? What the hell kind of leader is that? I thought, oh brother, just shoot me now. So, he wants to keep the dozens of temp taxes that were imposed upon us five years ago? That will certainly make people go out and spend and stimulate our hapless economy! They had all these millions and millions of our hard earned dollars for five damn years and it did not make even one tiny infantesimal dent in the deficit and they simply spent and pissed it all away. Now he wants more? Are you kidding me? He wants to give illegals paid college tuitions when legal citizens are struggling to get their kids through high school. This idiot couln't run a Taco Bell franchise, let alone the State of California.

[Unsaved Trash]

This idiot couln't run a Taco Bell franchise, let alone the State of California.

Now, now, now. At least he put a sizable dent in YTB. After he did his thing, they went downhill fast.

As for your other remarks, pretty much agree but still would rather have him than Smeg Whitman.

[A Life Aloft]

Now, now, now. At least he put a sizable dent in YTB. After he did his thing, they went downhill fast.

As for your other remarks, pretty much agree but still would rather have him than Smeg Whitman.
Oh hell, I in no way wanted either one of them, believe me. She was a liar and a phony. This is what seems to be happening for years now for me. I rarely get a candidate on any level of government that I can really get behind and that I want to win. It's either the lesser of two evils choice - you don't really want either one of them- or you don't vote for any of them, or for some guy that I am behind that I know doesn't have a rats ass chance of getting elected. I wrote my damn dog in for Governor this last go around. He'd be just as effective and much cheaper in the long run.

Problem is what happened to the AG in ILL or all the other debts and suits? Those bastards are still in business and still making some money. Lloyd, Kimmy and Snotty have gotten away with so much fraud over the years, made so many millions that they have stashed, lived like kings, that in reality, it's sickening. He didn't nail them for nearly as much as I hoped for either. I wanted jail time and the Feds brought in and them completely shut down. THAT would have made me happy.

[A Life Aloft]

Mr. Brown, here's a suggestion for you.....

Raising taxes is the very thing the state shouldn't be doing. The current shortfall, has already exposed the California's dangerous reliance on high income tax rates on the state's top earners to meet its budgetary needs. Our state's top marginal personal income tax rate is one of the highest in the country already, and its corporate tax rate is among the highest. DO NOT raise taxes even further. What's really needed, in addition to other reforms, is an effort to foster a better business climate in California by reducing corporate taxes, regulations and red tape that are now strangling existing business enterprises and keeping new ones from starting up. Clean up your own house Mr. Brown and cut the waste from within before you look to the already over burdoned taxpayers for addtional help.

[A Life Aloft]

Latest and not so greatest..........

California Gov. Jerry Brown, fresh from the Bay Area Council's endorsement Friday, took on Americans for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist, calling him "highly undemocratic" for trying to dissuade Republicans from supporting his special election and budget proposals.

Brown's comments came days after Norquist, in a phone call to us this week, dismissed Brown's special election efforts as "pathetic." The conservative activist threatened to come out to California to do "whatever is necessary" to keep Republicans from signing on to Brown's plan; he says it would be a violation of ATR's "no tax" pledge.

Brown's response: "I did not take a pledge denying the people the right to vote."

Oh please, we did vote. The citizens have voted three times and taken to the street while Arnold was The Governator and threatened to raise our taxes yet again. Did you miss that part, Jerry?? Here is an idea. Why not pass a state law that every worker in the state must have pension and medical benefits that are at least as good as those for unionized state govt workers and teachers in this state.
Maybe we could also pass a law that $100,000 / year is the new minimum wage. Why don't you take the initiative and lower your own pay scale, lower your benefits package, and buy your own health care insurance?

"He's pathetic himself...and highly undemocratic,'' said the governor of Norquist. He predicted Californians will reject Norquist as an "outsider" from Washington D.C. who's trying to "dictate" politics and policy to Californians.

[Theophilus]

Brown is the wrong person at the wrong time to be governor, well pretty much at anytime IMO. I agree with ALA's post #38. Governor nutzo cannot possibly force the taxpayers to pay more in taxes, when it is obvious that so much spending on worthless and outdated and unnecessary bureaucracy could easily be cut without affecting the residents of California at all.

One thing that will be a game changer for California and the US is $5.00 a gallon for petrol. No one is going to stand for a tax increase when it will costs $100.00 to fill up your tank. When the government starts talking of a tax increase, people who never really cared about government spending will start looking at what the government is spending money on.

They will say, they are spending our money on what?!

I have noticed that all bureaucracies created and the bureaucrats who work for them, think the people cannot live without them.

I know this is off topic............

When Clinton was president he decided to actually cut some bureaucracies. One department he cut was one that tasted tea, yes we actually had tea tasters on the government payroll.

When the pudgy fat fu*k who was obviously lacking vitamin D, who was the head of this worthless bureaucracy came out to address the press.........

He went on and on about how important his job was, he was so sad.

I thought, go out and get a real job you jerk.

[littleroundman]

I have noticed that all bureaucracies created and the bureaucrats who work for them, think the people cannot live without them.

Isn't that the very heart of the whole argument ??

IM(very)HO, anyone who thinks for one second the solution to ANY of the problems facing society at ANY level lies with politicians and/or bureaucrats is deluding themselves.

Things may have evolved in such a way we are "stuck" with the system, politicians and bureaucracy we have, but that does not mean any of them are capable of dealing effectively with the problems society faces.

In Western "Democracy", for example, at a fundamental level, voters really have only 2 or 3 options when they vote and the "bureaucracy" changes only superficially, if at all.

In reality any democratic vote comes down to choosing the lesser of 2 evils and NOT the best/most talented/ethical person for the job.

[Theophilus]

Yep, it really sucks that we as Americans really try to make changes and nothing changes.

[Theophilus]

I am going to share a post I found. I did not write this, this post is very clever and funny though.



Lawrence Livermore Laboratories in the US has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-5 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of morons promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

[A Life Aloft]

I love it! "When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons. "

And the government wonders why people are angry, frustrated, fed up, formed the Tea Party, take to the streets and the internet in droves. People have have it! The government longed ago ceased to serve it's citizens and now only serves itself! It has now become a burdon, inefficient, and destructive to the people’s life, liberty, property and privacy! "The Federal Government shall not operate outside of a balanced budget, nor shall it raise taxes outside of the full participatory legislative process." Yeah right! What happened to that part of the Constitution?

The purpose of the U.S. Government is supposed to be to protect its citizens from those who would rob them of their life, liberty, privacy, or property either by force or by stealth. Therefore, the government is to protect citizens from entities foreign and domestic, including individuals and institutions who would rob citizens through fraudulent business practices. Now they are the entity themselves who is, robbing us, binding us, restricting us, deceiving us and taking away our freedoms! We now need protection from our own damn goverment! lol Seriously, this crap just makes me crazy!