Whipped Cream Difficulties

There was the local resident who was given a document with false City Hall salaries. There was the food bank coordinator who had no idea one of his volunteers was being paid nearly six figures. And there was the councilman who didn’t realize he was making just pennies on the dollar compared to his colleagues.

Among the witnesses: Bell resident Roger Ramirez. In 2008, Ramirez put in a public records request for the salaries of the mayor and council members.

Ramirez testified that he told [Rebecca] Valdez [the city clerk] the figures didn’t match what he thought was true and that the city clerk appeared worried someone would overhear him.
“The only thing I can tell you is the expression on her face was concern and she looked around with her eyes and didn’t say a word,” he said.

Also, Ricardo Gonzalez:

Ricardo Gonzalez testified that Rizzo hired him in 2005 as the director of business development and relations. He said there was no job description but that Rizzo told him his duties included coordinating Bell’s food bank, which operated as a nonprofit and relied on volunteers.
Gonzalez said all of the defendants volunteered at the food bank and he was unaware at the time that anyone was paid for such work.

The significance of this is that former council member Victor Bello was being paid $100,000 a year as “assistant food bank coordinator”.

And Lorenzo Velez:

Velez testified that he didn’t even realize the council position was paid until he received his first paycheck. He said that Rizzo told him the money was a stipend for expenses he might incur. Earlier testimony has revealed that Rizzo instructed the city clerk to prepare Velez’s salary contract to be a fraction of his colleagues’ pay.

Velez is the only council member who hasn’t been charged; his salary was $310 every two weeks.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2013 at 8:43 am and is filed under California Über Alles, Clippings, Law. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.