# Remember those Bell, CA city employees paying themselves insane salaries? Here's an update! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 3, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713 "2011-11-03T03:55:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/1 "2011-11-03T03:55:07Z")
The balls! Clicking on link is worth it for the picture! [Robert Rizzo sues Bell, says city had no ‘cause’ to fire him](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/11/robert-rizzo-lawsuit-bell.html) > [@](#): > > Robert Rizzo, the former city administrator whose generous salary launched the city of Bell to notoriety last year, is suing the city, alleging breach of contract. > > Rizzo, who was ousted from his post last year over revelations that he was collecting a salary of nearly $800,000 to oversee the day-to-day operations of the small, working-class community in southeast Los Angeles County, accused the city of breach of contract in a suit filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court. He is representing himself in the suit. > > He is suing for back wages dating to July 2010, when the City Council responded to public outrage over Rizzo’s pay by locking him out of his office and stopping his pay, according to the suit. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/2 "2011-11-04T03:20:58Z")
I wish every single one of those clowns on the city payroll could get a one-way ticket to Sheriff Arpaia’s tent city in Maricopa County, Arizona! Pink underwear, bologna sandwiches and all the sand fleas you don’t want! ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/3 "2011-11-04T04:31:19Z")
> [@](#): > > He is representing himself in the suit. That won’t end well. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/4 "2011-11-04T13:02:38Z")
He continues to prove that he is a greedy disgusting pig with every move he makes. He makes my stomach hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/5 "2011-11-04T14:09:31Z")
Is it just a forgone conclusion that anyone with the last name “Rizzo” is a scumbag of the highest order? ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/6 "2011-11-04T15:05:23Z")
I’ve known a Rizzo or two who weren’t, so there _are_ counterexamples out there. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/7 "2011-11-04T15:31:49Z")
Isn’t Bell, CA a place where almost nobody lives? It is just warehouses and fuel storage tanks. So if the city government is accontable to no one, I can see this happening. Take Massachsetts-the head of the Chelsea Housing Authority has been paying himself a salary of $360,000/year-with NO state oversight. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/8 "2011-11-04T16:39:24Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Isn’t Bell, CA a place where almost nobody lives? It is just warehouses and fuel storage tanks. Er, it has something on the order of 35,000 people as of the last census. > [@](#): > > So if the city government is accontable to no one, I can see this happening. > Take Massachsetts-the head of the Chelsea Housing Authority has been paying himself a salary of $360,000/year-with NO state oversight. What does that have to do with anything? Are the people who are responsible for said person’s paycheck (i.e., the city government and the voters) happy with the value received? ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/9 "2011-11-04T17:04:02Z")
I don’t get the outrage, actually. Get mad at the city council! This is a guy who saw a super sweet deal, interviewed, got hired, and is upset (righteously) because the city, responding to court of public opinion, illegally terminated him. He really oughta understand why, but just like Charlie Sheen’s contract seems to mean he will get paid for the episodes he was fired from, his contract seems to indicate that the city council does indeed owe him the money for the contract that they broke. This is just like someone who paid too much for a house right before the bust- it was a valid contract- and if you have the money, and Bell, CA seems to, you can’t just walk away from your obligations, whether you were stupid to sign the contract or not. I haven’t seen that the city manager Rizzo did anything wrong, but I have seen how the City Council did. What am I missing? ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/10 "2011-11-04T17:23:14Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Pink underwear, bologna sandwiches and all the sand fleas you don’t want! > ~VOW No sand fleas here. Heck, there’s no sand. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2011, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/11 "2011-11-04T23:52:24Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Is it just a forgone conclusion that anyone with the last name “Rizzo” is a scumbag of the highest order? OK, you got this guy, Frank Rizzo, Ratso Rizzo, and Betty Rizzo. Yup, scumbags all. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/12 "2011-11-05T13:31:30Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Isn’t Bell, CA a place where almost nobody lives? It is just warehouses and fuel storage tanks. > So if the city government is accontable to no one, I can see this happening. > Take Massachsetts-the head of the Chelsea Housing Authority has been paying himself a salary of $360,000/year-with NO state oversight. Here is previous thread on the topic with explanations about how the insane salaries were able to fly under the wire [Why are the insane salaries paid to Bell City Administrators in CA not a criminal matter?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=573377) ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/13 "2011-11-05T14:28:00Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Isn’t Bell, CA a place where almost nobody lives? It is just warehouses and fuel storage tanks. > So if the city government is accontable to no one, I can see this happening. > Take Massachsetts-the head of the Chelsea Housing Authority has been paying himself a salary of $360,000/year-with NO state oversight. I think you’re thinking of the City of Vernon. But the City of Bell government was accountable to no one. Rizzo and Co completely rigged the game. Someone should have slipped him a wafer-thin mint along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Zulema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/db5fbb/32.png) [@Zulema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zulema)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/14 "2011-11-05T14:47:47Z")
I’m with **gurujulp** If he got hired and had a contract then he’s owed the money. If the citizens are so uninterested in city government that his job position is that overpaid then it’s their own fault. How many people here, if offered this job would have turned it down or demanded less pay? He’s not a crook for accepting a job and expecting that his contract be upheld. ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/15 "2011-11-05T20:14:16Z")
> [@Zulema](#): > > I’m with **gurujulp** > > If he got hired and had a contract then he’s owed the money. If the citizens are so uninterested in city government that his job position is that overpaid then it’s their own fault. > > How many people here, if offered this job would have turned it down or demanded less pay? He’s not a crook for accepting a job and expecting that his contract be upheld. > **[Bell council used little-noticed ballot measure to skirt state salary limits](https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-bell-council-used-ballot-measure-state-salary-limits-20130117-m-story.html)** > > The city asked voters to back conversion to charter status in 2005, the year the California Legislature limited the pay of council members statewide. Only 400 people in a city of 40,000 voted on the measure. > [@](#): > > The highly paid members of the Bell City Council were able to exempt themselves from state salary limits by placing a city charter on the ballot in a little-noticed special election that attracted fewer than 400 voters. They gamed the system. Rizzo suing for back pay is probably just a legal maneuver. There are _dozens_ of charges pending against him relating to massive fraud. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/16 "2011-11-05T20:45:14Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Isn’t Bell, CA a place where almost nobody lives? It is just warehouses and fuel storage tanks. > So if the city government is accontable to no one, I can see this happening. > Take Massachsetts-the head of the Chelsea Housing Authority has been paying himself a salary of $360,000/year-with NO state oversight. I don’t see how that’s similar at all. I saw that story in the Boston Globe. The city of Chelsea is happy with the guy’s performance in managing their public housing and has consistently given him raises. While he did understate his salary to the state, I don’t think anyone’s claiming that the state isn’t getting the correct amounts from elsewhere. I can’t really defend that, or justify his salary, but it doesn’t seem at all similar to Bell. And it’s practically a zealous commitment to clean government by Chelsea’s standards from several years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/17 "2011-11-08T23:42:49Z")
I find it strange that some of the “cities” referenced in the other thread haven’t been stripped of their status due to the lack of residents. Is this a loophole in California law that a “city” with only about 100 residents can continue to exist, instead of being demoted to village status, merged into a neighbouring municipality, or reintegrated into the underlying county? This reminds me of the old English [rotten boroughs](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotten_boroughs). ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2011, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/18 "2011-11-08T23:54:28Z")
> [@AlienVessels](#): > > [Bell council used little-noticed ballot measure to skirt state salary limits](http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/23/local/la-me-0723-bell-charter-20100723) > > They gamed the system. Rizzo suing for back pay is probably just a legal maneuver. > > There are _dozens_ of charges pending against him relating to massive fraud. That link states that it is indeed the City Council who created the legal problems. My position that he just worked there stands, unless I see another link with information that he is indeed part of the problem. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/19 "2011-11-09T01:49:07Z")
> [@gurujulp](#): > > That link states that it is indeed the City Council who created the legal problems. I don’t see how you think he gets a pass on this. Yes, the City Council are scum bags, and are facing charges of their own. But this guy is also a piece of shit who embezzled public funds. He went to great (and illegal) lengths to hide what he was being paid from the taxpayers. He worked WITH the City Officials to rob their city. > **[HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News](https://www.huffpost.com/)** > > Read the latest U.S. and world news, politics, entertainment, lifestyle and opinion pieces from HuffPost’s trusted team of journalists. > [@](#): > > According to prosecutors, Rizzo orchestrated a scheme to bilk the Los Angeles suburb out of more than $6 million by paying himself and other Bell city officials’ exorbitant salaries. They face charges of fraud and misappropriation of public funds The ‘misappropriation’ is that he was giving himself loans from city funds. Here is a better link: > **[Former Bell, California, administrator sues city for his $11,000 monthly...](https://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/us/california-bell-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_t2)** > > The former city administrator of Bell, California, now facing corruption allegations, is suing the city for breach of contract and labor code violations. > [@](#): > > Rizzo is among a total of eight former Bell city officials – called the Bell Eight – who are facing corruption charges. > > All eight former officials, including six former council members and Rizzo’s assistant Angela Spaccia, have pleaded not guilty. > > Prosecutors accuse the eight of misappropriating more than $5.5 million, including being paid for phantom committee meetings and making illegal personal loans. > > Prosecutors allege the six former council members, including the former mayor, misappropriated about $1.2 million in public funds and illegally gamed the system to receive exorbitant salaries for doing no work. They face nearly two dozen counts, prosecutors said. > > The six elected officials facing charges are former Mayor Oscar Hernandez and former city council members Teresa Jacobo, George Mirabal, Luis Artiga, George Cole and Victor Bello, prosecutors said. > > Between 2006 and 2010, the council members were paid nearly $8,000 a month for meetings on four boards that never took place or lasted just a few minutes, prosecutors allege. ---
**Author:** ![gurujulp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ba9def/32.png) [@gurujulp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gurujulp)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713/20 "2011-11-09T20:02:52Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > I don’t see how you think he gets a pass on this. Yes, the City Council are scum bags, and are facing charges of their own. But this guy is also a piece of shit who embezzled public funds. He went to great (and illegal) lengths to hide what he was being paid from the taxpayers. He worked WITH the City Officials to rob their city. > > [HuffPost - Breaking News, Politics, Entertainment & Opinion](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/01/robert-rizzo-lawsuit-disg_n_1069397.html) > > The ‘misappropriation’ is that he was giving himself loans from city funds. > > Here is a better link: > [http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/us/california-bell-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp\_t2](http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/us/california-bell-lawsuit/index.html?hpt=hp_t2) Thank you! I have read many other things where he was ‘generally alleged’ to have done unstated things, but this is the first I have seen that did not simply smear him, while actually pointing at the Council. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/remember-those-bell-ca-city-employees-paying-themselves-insane-salaries-heres-an-update/601713.md?page=2)