Why citizens must pay attention

The story of the California town that was paying its city manager nearly $800,000, its police chief almost $500,000, and city council members $100,000 a year was a shocker to say the least.

It also provides numerous lessons for those of us on the outside of government looking in. Most important? Don’t take anything for granted.

If you had previously assumed that city leaders are going to do the right thing just because it is right, you had better re-calculate using the new math of Bell, Calif., where the right thing is apparently whatever fattens a city official’s wallet.

This goes way beyond the usual bureaucratic sloppiness we have come to expect from government employees who are too often not held accountable to the same standards that apply in the private sector. Indeed, this appears to be a case of subtle, creeping corruption that was fueled not just by greed, but also by some degree of apathy and media neglect.

The Los Angeles suburb of just 40,000 has a median annual income of around $35,000, there is no local newspaper, and it’s likely that the salaries and benefits were being quietly escalated at sparsely attended council meetings, no one noticing. Fortunately, the outlandish salaries came to light when the Los Angeles Times reported on them July 15.

That was the equivalent of turning on the light in a Southern California kitchen and watching the cockroaches scurry for cover under the refrigerator or stove — any shadow or crevice will do for Mr. Cockroach.

But fortunately there was no place for these public officials to hide. Once the truth was known, the town’s citizens understandably protested, and did so loudly.

The city manager and the police chief resigned, and council members have agreed to slash their salaries. Good luck with re-election, council members.

What’s troubling about the whole story is that, sure, this was an extreme case, but one has to surmise that if local government can slip out of control to that degree in one California town, it is probably happening to lesser degrees elsewhere, even at a time when government should be just as austere as private businesses must be.

California is already famous for its bloated budget and deficits that are largely driven by years of public employee union demands that have had a sapping effect on the state’s private sector. Now the city of Bell will be famous for being run like a mob operation where the gravy rises to the top.

We are confident that what happened in Bell couldn’t happen in Montana towns where governments are well scrutinized by local media as well as interested citizens. However, it is wise for the public to remain diligent, informed and watchful of government at all times.