Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown sues eight top Bell officials [Updated]

LATimes
September 15, 2010

State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown on Wednesday sued eight top Bell [California] officials and council members, alleging fraud, civil conspiracy and waste of public funds in the first legal action related to the city's salary scandal.

Brown demanded that the officials return hundreds of thousands of dollars in unwarranted salaries. He also said he would expand his probe into public salaries in general and called for specific legislative action to reform salary and pension action. He also announced that he would serve subpoenas on the city of Vernon, which has also come under scrutiny for giving city officials excessive salaries.

Brown launched the investigation after The Times reported that former city administrator Robert Rizzo was earning nearly $800,000 and council members were being paid nearly $100,000 a year for council and agency meetings, http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef013485ba0fc7970c-800wisome of which met for only one minute.

Both the attorney general and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office have opened wide-ranging investigations into allegations of voter fraud, conflict of interest and excessive salaries in the Southeast L.A. County city. Earlier this month, the U.S. Justice Department also said it had launched an investigation into civil-rights violations focusing in part on allegations that the city improperly used towing fees and other municipal fines to generate revenues.

(More here.)