The Bell city pay scandal has its roots in absentee voter fraud.
By John Fund
The explosive scandal that saw officials in the lower-income city of Bell California (population 40000) purged last month due to outrageous salaries and pensions may have had its roots in voter fraud.
City Manager Robert Rizzo who stood to collect a $600000-a-year pension and police chief Randy Adams who was due a $411300-a-year pension were just two of the officials forced to resign after their platinum parachutes were uncovered. Now it turns out that they had been hired and kept in their jobs by elected officials who allegedly took advantage of Bells traditionally low voter turnout to commit ballot fraud.
In 2005 fewer than 400 voters cast ballots in a special election that cleared the way for City Council members to dramatically boost their own salaries. In that election more than half the votes cast were absentee ballots the method of voting most susceptible to fraud.
Four voters told the Los Angeles Times that city officials walked door-to-door urging them to vote absentee. One later was counted as voting absentee even though she said she never filled out a ballot.
Two other voters said local council members had personally collected their ballots for delivery a violation of state law. In addition a retired Bell police officer has identified at least 19 people he says voted in Bell but were either dead or living outside the country at the time.
One Bell resident who insisted on anonymity told the Times he was assigned the job of collecting absentee votes.
Our objective was to retrieve absentee ballots and if they were not filled out instruct them how to fill it out and if not fill it out for them he said.
The man has provided a statement to Los Angeles prosecutors who have opened an investigation.
