The Rats of Bell, Ca, jumping ship (Manager, Police Chief quit)

[n2doc]

Residents warn of recall if council members remain

By JOHN ROGERS, Associated Press Writer

Friday, July 23, 2010

(07-23) 10:25 PDT Bell, Calif. (AP) --

City Council members who make nearly $100,000 a year for governing this small, poverty-plagued suburb of Los Angeles must resign immediately or face a recall campaign, a community group warned Friday.

The threat came hours after it was announced that the city manager, assistant city manager and police chief were stepping down following a public outcry over their salaries, which total more than $1.6 million a year.

In the wake of that scandal, residents have lost trust in Mayor Oscar Hernandez and three other council members, said Ali Saleh, co-founder of the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse.

"We are happy that all three resigned but the fight doesn't end here," Saleh said.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2010/07/22/national/a092354D02.DTL&tsp=1

[slackmaster]

1. They're jumping ship and taking the cheese with them

Filthy rats indeed.

[itsrobert]

2. Rats are getting a great deal of money to do nothing

until they die.

[Octafish]

3. Message to the residents of Bell, California: It pays to attend city council meetings.

Open government or we get what this old guy said:

"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." -- Plato

[Ian David]

4. Bell, CA finally has a government small enough to drown in a bath tub. n/t

[mwb970]

5. Hence the phrase, "running like a rat out of Bell". /nt

[n2doc]

7. Wouldn't that be "a Hat out of Bell"

Very good, nonetheless

[n2doc]

6. Defiant Bell mayor defends city manager's high salary, hours after official resigns

July 23, 2010 | 7:38 am


A defiant Bell City Council defended the hefty compensation awarded to City Manager Robert Rizzo and two other officials just hours after the three agreed to resign amid a public outcry.

In the city's first formal statement on the salary issue, Bell released a letter from Mayor Oscar Hernandez in which he praised Rizzo's service to the city and said his nearly $800,000 annual salary was justified.

"Unlike the skewed view of the facts, the Los Angeles Times presented to advance the paper's own agenda, a look at the big picture of city compensation shows that salaries of the City Manager and other top city staff have been in line with similar positions over the period of their tenure," Hernandez said in the letter.


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/defiant-bell-mayor-defends-city-managers-high-salary-hours-after-official-resigns.html

[Liberal_in_LA]

8. K&R, the people spoke. Good riddance to these grifters