[Editor’s Note: A regular contributor, Mr. Smith was motivated to compose the following essay after absorbing this morning’s edition of the Los Angeles Times.]
Let’s talk about public corruption in the local governments in California.
You have city managers, police chiefs, city management personnel, city attorneys and City Council members involved in misuse of public funds. You have City Council members, police chiefs, city attorneys and city management looking the other way and participating in corruption as a regular part of city business.
These city government officials are very well paid with pay raises they gave themselves in the past five years.
City employees and members of the community have been attending secret meetings for years with the FBI, District Attorneys, and state Dept. of Justice investigators. Most of their complaints have fallen on deaf ears. When these employees are discovered, the retaliation is swift. This retaliation is carried out by trusted management personnel, and it is deadly for these employees’ careers. An organized crime hit man has nothing on these managers when it comes to ruthlessness.
Typically, the community has trusted these officials for years and continued to agree to pay more taxes for public safety, community services and a better life. In reality, the money was being spent on big pay raises for city management and other perks.
After reading the L.A. Times today, you have to feel sorry for the communities of Bell, Vernon, Rancho Cucamonga, and Irwindale as the truth of the depth of the internal corruption becomes known to the public.
Before the citizens of Culver City begin to feel sorry for the people in these communities, they should rejoice at living in corruption-free Culver City.
Open your eyes. The facts that I stated above have nothing to do with the communities mentioned in the Los Angeles Times today. It is all about you, Culver City.
Mr. Smith, a retired Culver City police officer, may be contacted at scsinternationalinvestigations.com
