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Another corrupt public official will likely be headed off to the federal hoosegow according to Tuesday’s Los Angeles Times story headlined Former state Sen. Ron Calderon’s guilty plea in corruption case marks blow to political dynasty.

OpenCdA hopes readers will take time to carefully read the entire story written so informatively and understandably by LA Times writers Joel Rubin and Patrick McGreevy.

Here are a few bullet-point highlights that caught our attention. (more…)

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.”

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.

In late 2010 OpenCdA put up a series of posts about two Prince George’s County, Maryland, public officials, Jack Johnson and his wife Leslie,  who had been arrested by the FBI on numerous charges of public corruption.   Prior to his arrest, Jack Johnson had been the P.G. County Prosecuting Attorney and most recently the county’s Administrator.  Johnson’s  wife Leslie was a P.G. County Councilwoman.

Both Johnsons are scheduled to be sentenced in December.  Here is a link to the 76-page sentencing memorandum prepared by the US Attorney for the District of Maryland.  It reveals just how corrupt these trusted, well-respected, highly-regarded members of the Prince George’s County community were.  It reveals how Jack and Leslie Johnson betrayed the trust and confidence of their constituents and their friends.  It is a primer explaining how public officials can develop a sense of entitlement, omnipotence, and  arrogant disdain for their constituents and trusting friends. (more…)

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[Here’s a link to a representative sample of the IRS public corruption investigations for the first quarter of FY 2011.  As always, these give [readers some idea of the dimensions of public corruption.

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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…)

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.