Furious workers in the town of Bell in California have forced their city manager and police chief to resign over a scandal in which it was uncovered that they were paying themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars a year wages, while state workers are having theirs cut.
Bell is a suburb of Los Angeles where one in six lives in poverty.
Their city manager was getting paid more than President Barack Obama and the police chief more than the commander of the nearly 13,000-member LAPD.
Those responsible for the scandal are the mayor of their town and three or four council members who approved the contracts for the city manager and Chief of Police, which resulted in their mammoth pay packets.
There is a campaign to get the mayor and the councillors to resign as well.
The mayor and the council members had approved a measure that allowed council members to pay themselves any amount of money.
Councillors then awarded themselves a wage of anywhere between $90,000 and $100,000 a year as part-time officials.
Ali Saleh, who helped form the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse said: ‘What caught us by surprise was the amount of money they were paying people.’
An investigation, based on California Public Records Act requests, showed that the city payroll had a number of six-figure salaries.
Chief Administrative Officer Robert Rizzo made $787,637 a year, getting a series of raises since being hired in 1993 at $72,000.
This amount is almost twice the $400,000 a year President Obama earns!
The assistant City Manager Angela Spaccia made $376,288 a year.
Police Chief Randy Adams earned $457,000.
He was hired just last year to oversee a force of fewer than 50 people.
He was making 50 per cent more than Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck’s $307,000.
All three Bell officials resigned after a late-night meeting last Thursday.
Mayor Oscar Hernandez said: ‘To the residents of Bell, we apologise’.
But now it is the Mayor and council members who are threatened with being forced to resign.
Hernandez, Vice-Mayor and Councilwoman Teresa Jacobo and Councilmen George Mirabal and Luis Artiga are paid $8,000 a year, plus about $8,000 a month for boards and commissions they sit on.
The other council member, Lorenzo Velez, said he is only paid the base $8,000 salary.
The residents’ group is demanding that the big salaries be cut by 90 per cent or that the officials resign.
Local resident Macias said as he left City Hall: ‘I think they’re a bunch of crooks They should all be investigated by the feds.’
• Meanwhile a coalition of 60 unions and campaign groups representing over 30 million Americans in total have launched a ‘Campaign to Fight Social Security Cuts by Fiscal Commission’.
The campaign is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, MoveOn.org, NEA, SEIU, NOW, Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities), NAACP and the Alliance for Retired Americans.
The Administration’s fiscal commission is considering recommending that Congress cut Social Security benefits.
At a press conference last weekend participants outlined their plans to hold members of Congress who try to cut Social Security benefits accountable.
The first action of the campaign will be to hold hundreds of community events in August to mark the 75th anniversary of Social Security.
Richard L Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO said: ‘At a time when retirement is less secure for working Americans than it has been in many generations, only Social Security remains a defined and stable retirement benefit.
‘Raising the eligibility age for a full Social Security benefit would be disastrous for millions of Americans.
‘It is a benefit cut, plain and simple.
‘It is a cut that is unnecessary and one that Americans can ill-afford.
‘I know that America can do better than this and that’s why the AFL-CIO, as part of a broad campaign, is mobilising to protect Social Security’.
Hilary Shelton, Director of the Washington Bureau and Senior Vice-President for Advocacy and Policy of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People said: ‘It also provides benefits for disabled workers and surviving family members, which are imperative to the survival of a disproportionately high number of African Americans.’
Donna Meltzer, Senior Director of Government Relations for the Epilepsy Foundation and Chairperson of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities said: ‘Nearly half of all African Americans who receive Social Security benefits receive disability or survivors benefits, compared to 28 per cent of white Social Security beneficiaries.
‘Thus any proposed decrease in disability or survivors benefits would disproportionately hurt African Americans.
‘We have a message for the Commission: Don’t turn Social Security into the scapegoat for the deficit. Social Security is not the problem.
‘Don’t raise the retirement age. Don’t tamper with the COLA.
‘If you break the promise that was made to America’s working families, we’ll hold you accountable.
‘It is critical to know that people with disabilities and their families are found across Social Security’s retirement, survivors and disability insurance programmes.
‘More than one-third of all monthly Social Security checks go to more than 20 million people who are not retirees.’
Terry O’Neill, President of the National Organisation for Women said: ‘Social Security is especially vital to women, who would be disproportionately harmed by cuts in benefits.
‘Rather than putting millions of women’s financial security at risk, the Fiscal Commission should address the real causes of the deficit – unfunded wars, irresponsible tax breaks for the wealthiest, and an economic crisis caused by financial regulatory failures.
‘Women are watching the commissioners, but will we be invisible to them?
‘The Strengthen Social Security campaign unites everyone here to improve – not weaken – Social Security.’
Ed Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans said: ‘We are united against any cuts in benefits, such as increases in the retirement age, and to any form of privatisation of Social Security.’