It is difficult to imagine that a major national newspaper, the Los Angeles Times, would characterize one of Los Angeles’ neighbors as, “… a criminal enterprise posing as a city government.”  That is how this December 27 Los Angeles Times editorial referred to nearby Vernon, California.

So corrupt is Vernon’s city government believed to be that one California lawmaker has proposed legislation to have the state unincorporate the city.  In an earlier editorial on December 13, the Los Angeles Times disagreed with such a harsh action even while acknowledging the newspaper, “… dislike[s] the idea of city functionaries raiding public coffers to become millionaires.” (more…)

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Here is a link to a representative sample of the public corruption cases successfully prosecuted during Fiscal Year 2010 by the Internal Revenue Service and the US Attorneys offices.  These are interesting for several reasons.  First, they show the many forms public corruption can take.  Second, they show that many public corruption cases take years to investigate and develop.  Third, they show that many of these cases need to be investigated and prosecuted federally because local officials are unwilling or unable to do it.

And here is a link to some examples of the cases prosecuted successfully during the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2011.  One in particular was interesting and reproduced below, because it involved exploiting community colleges monies for personal gain.  (more…)

The problem with rubber stamps is that sometimes people use them for the wrong reasons at the wrong time.

That’s what the city of Bell, California, found out when the state controller audited the city’s books recently.  The city’s auditing contractor, Mayer Hoffman McCann, “… audits the books of dozens of government agencies …” according to a December 22, 2010,   LA Times article headlined Audits of Bell were ‘rubber stamp,’ state controller says.  The article quotes California State Controller John Chiang as saying, “”MHM appears to have been a rubber-stamp rather than a responsible auditor committed to providing the public with the transparency and accountability that could have prevented the mismanagement of the city’s finances by Bell officials.”

The headline on the December 21, 2010, article in the LA Times was even more blunt:  Bell’s auditors should have spotted most of the alleged corruption, state controller finds.

Fortunately, what happened in Bell could never happen in Coeur d’Alene.  Right?

Why do public officials become corrupt?  In The Atlanta Post article titled How Kwame Kilpatrick’s Downfall Displays the Psychology of Corruption, pastoral counselor Dr. Angela Chester succinctly explains it this way:

“As we look at the politicians of our time, many, not all, show signs of grandiosity and narcissism.  They believe that they are larger than life. They are no longer an elected official, but a king of the land in which they rule. The power and authority they seek to gain does not fill the void that they have been trying to fill. Yet, they continue to become more and more obsessed with status, manipulating those around them for their own selfish gain.”

The Post article is not long and contains other gems well worth reading.