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.”

OpenCdA’s posts on June 18 and June 22, 2013, were titled Another Mayor Arrested – Corruption and “Corruption becomes a kind of cancer” respectively.  These two posts introduced readers to the work of the Charbonneau Commission in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.  The Commission was created in late 2011 to investigate widespread corruption in the building industry in the province of Quebec.   Quebec Premier Jean Charest appointed the very highly-respected Quebec Superior Court Justice France Charbonneau to preside over the inquiry.

After a brief summer hiatus, the Charbonneau Commission has resumed its hearings.  Today’s post links readers to an interesting news report in The Globe and Mail newspaper online version.   The news report offers a tantalizing hint about how much fighting public corruption has saved Quebeckers in real dollars.   The article includes these statements:

• “Fighting corruption may have generated nearly a billion dollars in savings…”
• “Strict anti-collusion rules in the awarding of government contracts that the Parti Québécois minority government adopted late last year have reduced costs for major infrastructure projects.”
• “Bids on government contracts are lower since corrupt practices have been eliminated.”

The Quebec government will release a detailed cost savings report later in November.

“Fighting corruption … in monetary terms is quite profitable,” Conseil du trésor Chair Stéphane Bédard said. “The effects are tangible for the pocketbooks of Quebeckers.”

OpenCdA has followed the criminal trials of several public officials in Bell, California.  Their actions have been accurately described as “Corruption on Steriods“.

However, the city of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, will soon be looking for a new police chief, and Bell’s former Chief Randy Adams sounds like he would fit in perfectly in our city.

It will take some creative accounting to match the salary Adams received in Bell, but we’re sure that Coeur d’Alene’s Mayor and City Council has the vision to find a way.

Public corruption can be stopped in any community, ours included.

Here is an FBI and US Attorney’s Office press release announcing the arrest of and agreed guilty pleas by two Forsyth, Georgia, city councilcrooks on bribery charges.

The thing that is most amazing is how comparatively little time it took for between initiation of investigation and conclusion.  The bribe was solicited on December 27, 2012, and the arrests were made by the end of January 2013.

How did that happen?  Simple and straightforward.  An honest and courageous businessman from whom one councilcrook solicited the bribe in return for a lucrative city contract immediately reported the solicitation to the FBI and cooperated in the investigation.

Public corruption investigations often take years to complete and don’t always lead to arrest, trial, and conviction.  Too frequently, otherwise honest citizens deny the existence of the corruption:  “This is just a little town in northern Idaho.  Nothing like that could ever happen here.”  (Readers should note that the population of Forsyth, Georgia, is approximately 4,000 people.)   Or they refuse to believe that someone whom they’ve known and trusted for years is a crook:  “I’ve known old so-and-so for years.  Played basketball with him in high school.   He’d never…”).  In what may be the worst case, honest citizens accept corruption and rationalize it by saying, “Well, old so-and-so does so much good in the community.  He (or she) donates to all the charities.  So what if he makes a little bit under the table?”

Ignoring public corruption effectively makes the victimized public an unwitting accomplice to the corruption and the protector of the corrupt.

It may turn out that the family who pays-to-play together, stays together.  Maybe in the same federal prison.

Progreso, Texas Mayor Omar Leonel Vela;  his brother, Progreso School Board Chairman Michael Vela; and his father, Progreso School District Maintenance and Transportation Supervisor Jose Guadalupe Vela, Jr. were arrested  by the Federal Bureau of Investigation earlier this week on charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, violations of the Travel Act, theft, and bribery.

It is alleged they participated in a scheme to create a “pay-to-play” public contracting system in Progreso. According to the indictment, they used their control of Progreso municipal government and the Board of Trustees of the Progreso Independent School District (PISD) to extract bribes and kickbacks from service providers to PISD and the city.   (more…)

Readers might recall OpenCdA’s posts on November 21, 2012 (Judges, Prosecutors, and Other Vermin) and January 29, 2013 (D’ere Go Da’ Judge… ) which reported that Michigan State Supreme Court Justice Diane Hathaway was being given a federal time out for bank fraud.  In May she was sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison after pleading guilty in January to bank fraud in connection with a property in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.

Now another state court judge, this one from Texas, is headed off to federal prison after being convicted of racketeering.  Former State District Judge Abel Corral Limas has been ordered to federal prison for 72 months.

It seems that former Judge Limas admitted his part in use of the office of judge of the 404th District Court as a criminal enterprise to enrich himself and others through extortion. Limas accepted money and other consideration from attorneys in civil cases pending in his court in return for favorable pre-trial rulings in certain cases.

Evidence also showed Limas participated in a series of meetings with attorneys Marc Garrett Rosenthal and Jim Solis in the summer of 2008 during which they planned and negotiated the terms of Limas’ employment as an “of counsel” attorney with the firm. During those meetings, Rosenthal promised Limas an advance of at least $100,000, as well as a percentage of attorneys’ fees earned in the helicopter crash case in return for favorable rulings on the case.

Limas was expecting to be “cut in” on 10 percent of the settlement/judgment of the helicopter crash case pending in his court and the $100,000 advance. On December 31, 2008, Limas received a check for $50,000 payable from the Rosenthal & Watson Law Firm. On January 2, 2009, Limas received a check for $50,000 from Solis.  In October 2009, the helicopter case settled for approximately $14 million and Limas received approximately $85,000 from the Rosenthal & Watson Law Firm approximately two months later.

Fortunately for us in Kootenai County, Idaho, it couldn’t happen here.   Deadender judges always go bad someplace else.