121 replies to this topic

[Robert Giacometti]

Great article that makes you think.


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California Cities Struggling Under Wave of CorruptionUpdated: 1 hour 46 minutes ago
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Scott Martelle
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AOL News (Aug. 16) -- Call it the New Jersey of the West.


Recent revelations of exorbitant salaries paid to top officials in the Southern California city of Bell are only the latest developments in a long-running saga of corruption embroiling a string of cities along the Los Angeles River.

The scandals encompass city councils paying themselves and city officials exorbitant salaries, but also involve the alleged conversion of city funds for personal expenses, Third World-style elections and, in one case, a police department so bad that insurance companies jacked up the coverage rates, sparking a fiscal meltdown.

Experts say the failings are caused in part by a lack of oversight by their own residents, and the absence of a local newspaper to cover such political decisions as the Bell City Council approving a contract that gave its manager 12 percent annual pay raises, 28 weeks of vacation and sick leave, and an annual pension of more than half a million dollars.

The conditions in Bell surfaced publicly after the Los Angeles Times, which covers the sprawling metropolitan region, turned its spotlight on the tiny city amid reports of official investigations.

"There's just nobody paying attention," said Robert M. Stern, president of the Center for Governmental Studies in Los Angeles. "There's no newspaper. The citizens are not paying that much attention, and when they tried to get some information the city stonewalled them. So the citizens have to hire a lawyer, and they do not have the resources to do that."

Part of the problem with Bell and some of the other cities is how they are governed. The cities adopted local charters for their own governance in lightly attended elections that gave the city councils wide latitude in setting salaries and making other decisions, Stern said.

Compare what is happening there to what has occurred here in Folsom.

#1 Selling surplus land for 1/3 of its value all the while officials twisting the facts to cover up what happened.

#2. Awarding a NO BID consulting contract to a former Manager with no experience.

#3. Enhancing Pension benefits without determining the costs to the city for Unions that support Council members in elections.

#4. Trading away our first in line water rights off the American River for water from Aerojet, so They can develop their property and claiming we are getting MORE water in the deal.

#5. Giving the Chamber of Commerce free rent for city owned facilities when we are making cuts to vital services because of a lack of tax revenue. Then the Chamber through BIZ PAC raising significant amounts of money in support of the council members in their election, who voted for the free rent.

#6. Council members misrepresenting the threat of control over S50 and threats of the impending population boom, to annex S50 rewarding the wealthy land investors who have been supportive of their candidacy.

#7. The City of Folsom having the highest amount of debt service annually than any other agency in the 6 county area! Why didn't growth pay for its impacts and Why did the City Council let the Developers out of their responsibilities by financing impacts?


Please people read the article and open your mind, then your eyes before the community you all so enjoy is gone! Pay attentio to the part saying " Experts say the failings are caused in part by a lack of oversight by their own Residents"

We are standing on the crossroads of the future of our community, its time to wake up before its too late! I'm sure many of the so called "In" crowd dismissed or ridiculed the citizens raising similiar concerns about the direction of that City.

Don't be on the wrong side in Folsom!

[SacKen]

I agree that we need better oversight and my eyes are open. So now what? I'd say that, thanks to the discussions on MyFolsom.com, the residents of Folsom are much more aware of the things you listed than in places like Bell. However, awareness and action are two different things. How can we go about validating the claims and acting on them if there is corruption? Years of publicly pestering Kerri have led you nowhere. Trying to convince people to vote people out of office hasn't worked. So what next?

I assume once corruption was proven, you can get the State authorities involved. I just don't know what resources or power our small minority have beyond going down to City Hall and requesting copies of documents and trying to piece together the puzzles.

Do we need to form some citizen's oversight committee? Would that committee have any special powers (would probably need an attorney or someone familiar with citizen rights or any special State laws that recognizes such a group)? If not, maybe it's still just a group of people that collaborate, prioritize, and in general just bring some formality to the process that may be difficult for a single person to undertake on their own? Either way, I'd be interested in maybe participating in something like that.

Or maybe it's time for torches, pitchforks and ax-handles.

[old soldier]

old robert makes some good points...there is a fine line between criminal and just plain stupid but come to think about it neither is good for the citizens of folsom.

[JRudi]

I agree that we need better oversight and my eyes are open. So now what? I'd say that, thanks to the discussions on MyFolsom.com, the residents of Folsom are much more aware of the things you listed than in places like Bell. However, awareness and action are two different things. How can we go about validating the claims and acting on them if there is corruption? Years of publicly pestering Kerri have led you nowhere. Trying to convince people to vote people out of office hasn't worked. So what next?

SacKen: Fighting to reform city government can be an uphill battle, especially in a town like Folsom where the local politicians are well-entrenched. Because we lack term limits, they have established strong, lengthy ties to developers which provide them financial support when they seek re-election. They also have name recognizition with the voters, and because most of the people in town don't have the time or interest to get to know the candidates or the issues well, many vote based solely on name recognition. Believe me, if the voters knew what a couple of these people are truly like, they would never get re-elected.

One way of effecting change, and probably the only realistic approach available to a minority who want to effect change, is to expose the corruption through the media. The time is ripe to do this given what has occured recently with the city of Bell. The true character of these individuals could finally be exposed, with the community hopefully expressing their shock and displeasure afterwards at the voting booths.

I expect something big will be exposed very shortly, and that the source of the "something" will be traced back to one or two individuals on the council (likely the ones with the most obvious character flaws).

[old soldier]

"I expect something big will be exposed very shortly, and that the source of the "something" will be traced back to one or two individuals on the council (likely the ones with the most obvious character flaws)."
0

'I am kinda wondering where old rudi showed up from but this here quote could open up panda's box when they want folks to start counting up character flaws on the city council

heck he exposed feisty Kerri as a smoker, now who I ask you can trust a smoker and that one who drinks in folsom seedy bars at that folks lets start a contest listing flaws and see who the winners may be-

[ducky]

"I expect something big will be exposed very shortly, and that the source of the "something" will be traced back to one or two individuals on the council (likely the ones with the most obvious character flaws)."
0

'I am kinda wondering where old rudi showed up from but this here quote could open up panda's box when they want folks to start counting up character flaws on the city council

heck he exposed feisty Kerri as a smoker, now who I ask you can trust a smoker and that one who drinks in folsom seedy bars at that folks lets start a contest listing flaws and see who the winners may be-

The problem with that is there are no winners. One candidate can expose mud on the other. I suppose if it's substantial enough it would take one candidate out of the running, but it doesn't necessarily make the one left the better candidate.

Here's a thought. How about each candidate come out and say SPECIFICALLY what he would do better, instead of all this mudslinging? I don't want to know what one candidate doesn't like about another candidate. If one candidate has a different vision for Folsom than what was done in the past, great. I want to hear about it.

[JRudi]

"I expect something big will be exposed very shortly, and that the source of the "something" will be traced back to one or two individuals on the council (likely the ones with the most obvious character flaws)."
0

'I am kinda wondering where old rudi showed up from but this here quote could open up panda's box when they want folks to start counting up character flaws on the city council

heck he exposed feisty Kerri as a smoker, now who I ask you can trust a smoker and that one who drinks in folsom seedy bars at that folks lets start a contest listing flaws and see who the winners may be-

Old Soldier: I guess my problem is that I hold my elected representatives to a higher standard than you do. Frankly, I don't want a bunch of scum bags making decisions that affect me and my family. My family and I - hell, this whole community - deserves better!

Feisty? Come on!!! I don't care how you to try to label her behavior. She's just flat out rude. And, by the way, I still haven't taken issue with her ethics (or lack of them). More on this later...

[JRudi]

The problem with that is there are no winners. One candidate can expose mud on the other. I suppose if it's substantial enough it would take one candidate out of the running, but it doesn't necessarily make the one left the better candidate.

Here's a thought. How about each candidate come out and say SPECIFICALLY what he would do better, instead of all this mudslinging? I don't want to know what one candidate doesn't like about another candidate. If one candidate has a different vision for Folsom than what was done in the past, great. I want to hear about it.

Ducky: Believe me! There is far more here than just some less-than-perfect habits. There are people out there who just aren't suited to be elected officials. I recognize that people have a right to lead whatever lifestyle they choose, but we as voters need to be selective on who we have make decisions for us. As a very minimum, our elected officials should be moral and ethical.

[SacKen]

What's with the vagueness? If the only way to fix things is through exposure, and you know details, why wait for the media to jump on it? If you know something and have the evidence to back it up, spill it! Screw waiting for the media. We the people should be able to handle this without needing the media to run point. Otherwise, stop with the winks and nods. It just makes you seem as weaselly as you are accusing the city council of being.

[Robert Giacometti]

What's with the vagueness? If the only way to fix things is through exposure, and you know details, why wait for the media to jump on it? If you know something and have the evidence to back it up, spill it! Screw waiting for the media. We the people should be able to handle this without needing the media to run point. Otherwise, stop with the winks and nods. It just makes you seem as weaselly as you are accusing the city council of being.

I've never claimed to know all the details, nor has anyone officially approached me. We will just have to wait until something is completed and released. All I said I was hoping it would be completed before the election.

[rlsliger]

I've never claimed to know all the details, nor has anyone officially approached me. We will just have to wait until something is completed and released. All I said I was hoping it would be completed before the election.

Can you at least list the details that you do know about? Are you referring to the 7 items in your original post? I apologize if you've already posted that before. I'm trying to follow all of this but I have to admit I'm having a hard time with the many different threads on the same topic

[SacKen]

Interesting... thanks. Do you have documentation or any proof? I know Robert has long presented a logical conclusion that seems to make sense and points to something funky, but it has never been more than "1 + 1 != 4" hearsay. It sounds like you may have more details. If so, and there really was illegal activity (unlike Bell, which was corrupt and unethical but technically not illegal), I hope that people go to jail and the city can sue the developer to recoup the profit they allegedly stole from us.

[JRudi]

Interesting... thanks. Do you have documentation or any proof? I know Robert has long presented a logical conclusion that seems to make sense and points to something funky, but it has never been more than "1 + 1 != 4" hearsay. It sounds like you may have more details. If so, and there really was illegal activity (unlike Bell, which was corrupt and unethical but technically not illegal), I hope that people go to jail and the city can sue the developer to recoup the profit they allegedly stole from us.

Sure. A couple of suggestions.

You could do a public records request and request copies of the purchase agreement, the appraisal and any documents relating to the receipt of final payment. From this, you should be able to piece together when the appraisal was prepared, what it what based on, and when the payment was received. What would be more difficult to find is the price the initial developer sold the property for to the homebuilder. This would not be a public record. However, I believe the homebuilder revealed the price they paid ($21 million) to some members of city staff.

However, another (and probably easier) approach would be to just refer it to the Grand Jury, and let them do the digging. They have far more authority to obtain information, including interviewing people under oath, than private citizens do.

[SacKen]

You say "the Grand Jury" not "a Grand Jury". Typo or is there something already in the works where a GJ is getting involved?

Robert claims to have tried to get the docs from the city with little success. So the paper trail may be more abstract than explicit transaction documents.

As for the developer selling the property, I thought all land transactions were public record? Shouldn't the amount be in the county records?

[JRudi]

You say "the Grand Jury" not "a Grand Jury". Typo or is there something already in the works where a GJ is getting involved?

Robert claims to have tried to get the docs from the city with little success. So the paper trail may be more abstract than explicit transaction documents.

As for the developer selling the property, I thought all land transactions were public record? Shouldn't the amount be in the county records?

SacKen: The Sacramento Grand Jury. And, I am not aware of anything having been submitted to them on this issue. But, most issues submitted to them are kept confidential until they file a report on it, I believe.