OpenCdA encourages readers to carefully and thoughtfully consider Wednesday’s editorial in the Los Angeles Times.  The editorial was headlined The lesson of Bell:  A watchful citizenry is still essential (I’ve highlighted important lessons to be learned in this reprint).

While OpenCdA completely agrees with the need for a watchful citizenry, that simply isn’t enough.  Had it not been for the diligent news coverage by the Los Angeles Times, the magnitude and scope of the crimes might never have been known.  Press curiosity encourages honesty and openness.  Diligent, persistent, and penetrating press reporting discourages corruption.

We in Coeur d’Alene have often heard some of our own city councilmen, most often outgoing Councilman Deanna Goodlander, tell us that they don’t need to pay attention to the details and neither do we.  “Trust the City Staff.”

In Bell, the trusted City Staff was City Administrator Robert Rizzo and Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia.  Another former member of the trusted Bell City Staff, the City Clerk, testified that she falsified public records when directed.  And five of the six City Councilmen who trusted them so blindly have now been convicted of some crimes and may face retrial on other charges as well.

For us in Coeur d’Alene, The Lesson of Bell ought to be to unquestioningly trust no one at City Hall.  We private citizens need to pay attention.  Paying attention won’t be easy because our local and regional news media appear to be intentionally not paying attention.  But we have to try.

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Last Saturday’s OpenCdA post titled Coeur d’Alene’s Connection to the Corruption in Bell asked why Angela Spaccia was interested in buying some very expensive property in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.  More specifically, we wanted to know what Spaccia’s connection was and is to Coeur d’Alene.

Today, we have a much better idea. (more…)

There was a tantalizing mention of “Idaho” twice in the Los Angeles Times story dated November 14, 2013, headlined Ex-Bell leader Spaccia faces cross-examination in corruption trial.

These two sentences appeared near the end of the article:

“Spaccia also testified that in 2010, she borrowed $200,000 from Rizzo’s mother-in-law to buy a house in Idaho.”

“Adams testified that Spaccia asked him for a $350,000 loan for property in Idaho in February 2010.”

OpenCdA was curious about where  Angela Spaccia had been trying to buy property in Idaho, so we contacted LA Times reporter Jeff Gottlieb and asked.    His answer:  “In your fair city, Coeur d’Alene.”

Mr. Gottlieb’s answer raises more questions.  Why did Angela Spaccia happen to choose Coeur d’Alene?  Does she have friends, family, or business associates here?   During her tenure as Bell’s Assistant City Administrator, had she been in contact with someone in Coeur d’Alene who suggested this would be a good place to “get lost” because our local and regional news media and law enforcement are not professionally too inquisitive?

Maybe some day we’ll get an answer to these questions.

ADDENDUM:  Here’s a link to some selected news stories the Los Angeles Times has published concerning the Bell corruption.

OpenCdA has written several posts about the alleged corruption of city officials in Bell, California.

Some of the nagging questions are, “Didn’t the State require independent audits of Bell’s books?  If so, why didn’t the auditors question such things as the  ‘secret formula the public could never find out’ ?  Since the public ultimately pays for the City’s audit, isn’t the public entitled to a diligent independent audit rather than one designed by the alleged crooks to conceal financial mismanagement?”

To get an answer, OpenCdA contacted Jeff Gottlieb, one of the Los Angeles Times’ two principal reporters covering the Bell scandal story.  Mr.  Gottlieb had, in fact, written an article that at least partly answered the nagging questions.  His article was published in the LA Times online on June 2, 2012, and headlined California disciplines accounting firm that missed Bell irregularities.

Apparently the California  Board of Accountancy takes is mission seriously.

ADDENDUM on 11-18/2013:  LA Times reporter Jeff Gottlieb’s article linked above was preceded by one headlined Audits of Bell were ‘rubber-stamp,’ state Controller says.  The earlier article was published by the LA Times online on December 22, 2010, and included these indictments of the City of Bell’s independent auditors, Mayer Hoffman McCann (MHM):

“The long-awaited report is being closely watched because Mayer Hoffman McCann audits the books of dozens of government agencies in California and has 30 offices nationwide.”

“The controller’s office found that MHM failed to comply with 13 of 17 “fieldwork auditing standards” when reviewing Bell’s books in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The firm focused mostly on comparing financial numbers year to year rather than looking at potential for inappropriate or illegal activities, the controller’s report said.”