City Manager of L.A. suburb, making $800K / year in city where 1 in 6 lives in poverty, resigns

[Amerigo Vespucci]

BELL, Calif. — Residents in this modest blue-collar Los Angeles suburb where one in six lives in poverty were angry: Their city manager was getting paid more than President Barack Obama and the police chief more than the commander of the nearly 13,000-member LAPD.

They demanded and got the manager, the chief and another high-salaried official to resign.

They looked for the culprits and found them in the very people they entrusted to lead their city of 40,000 people. Now, they're campaigning to boot them out of office.

Their mayor and three of their four council members, people they see every day at the grocery store or church, approved the contracts, and put an obscure measure on the ballot that allowed council members to pay themselves any amount of money.

And they did: collecting between $90,000 and $100,000 a year as part-time officials.

***

Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo made $787,637 a year, getting a series of raises since being hired in 1993 at $72,000. President Obama makes $400,000.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/23/robert-rizzo-bells-800k-m_n_657085.html

[bobbolink]

1. Damn! The Power Of The People triumphs!

:bounce: :toast: :bounce:

[monmouth]

2. They still win, their pensions are enormous. I hope the cut them too....n/t

[The Northerner]

3. Hooray!

Now, how about capping the salaries of all the politicians in Bell, CA?

[donco6]

4. Good heavens. I run a budget bigger than theirs -

and I sure as hell don't make anything within Hubble distance of that.

[nilram]

5. right on. go Bell!