Hostile Takeovers in the Municipal World
When <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/381" target="”_blank”">I wrote
about</a> the "industrial city" of Vernon, California a year ago, I
didn't pay attention to a story that would, if it were true
(allegations have been made but, as far as I know, not proven), make
for a great movie, at least as dramatic as <span><a href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/synopsis" target="”_blank”">Chinatown</a>,</span>
about municipal corruption in Southern California.<br>
<br>
I highly recommend that
you read my <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/node/381" target="”_blank”">earlier blog
entry</a> before reading ahead, to get the background on Vernon, where
almost all the inhabitants work for the city.<br>
<br>
I came across a January 13, 2009 <a href="http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/nonpub/B194722.PDF" target="”_blank”">California
appellate court decision</a> concerning the "outsiders" mentioned only
in passing in my earlier blog entry. I also found <a href="http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California2/CA_California_Corruption_265196CA…; target="”_blank”">an
Associated Press article</a> that makes the Vernon machine look like a
family cookout. (And don't forget to read Prof. H. George
Frederickson's incredible <a href="http://people.ku.edu/%7Egfred/documents/ColumnSept2006.doc" target="”_blank”">semi-fictional
dialogue </a>on Vernon, which refers to the outsiders part of the
story on page 2.)<br>
<br>
The California appellate court
found that the outsiders were legally registered to vote in Vernon. These were several men who moved into a Vernon
commercial building, registered to vote (three of them also registered to run for city
council, which hadn't had any contenders in decades), and were promptly
evicted by Vernon authorities. Vernon insisted the outsiders were associated with Albert T. Robles, who, they say, was fraudulently trying to take over the city
(although the court found no evidence of such a conspiracy, the stated
facts in the decision are fascinating).<br>
<br>
Who is Robles? He was formerly Mayor, Treasurer, and Deputy
City Manager (at different times) of a nearby town,
South Gate. According to the AP article, Robles "was sentenced to 10
years in federal prison for extracting nearly $2 million in bribes from
contractors that he funneled to family and friends." He also allegedly
drove the town to the edge of bankruptcy.<br>
<br>
"'There are
different levels of hoodwinking, but I didn't think hoodwinking was a
crime,' Robles ... said in court. The case's federal prosecutor said
Robles turned South Gate into a 'pay-to-play' city where bribes were a
cost of business."<br>
<br>
The AP article goes further: "South Gate Treasurer Albert Robles
aspired to build a 'power machine' to secretly control cities
throughout the economically struggling area, according to trial
testimony. One now-jailed former mayor sought to steal $6 million by
steering city contracts to a shell company he owned. With little civic
involvement by local residents and only glancing media scrutiny, the
cities 'essentially laid themselves open for corruption, not through
any fault of anybody's, but more or less through some sense of benign
neglect,' said Jennifer Lentz Snyder, an assistant head deputy in the
Los Angeles County district attorney's public integrity division. She
believes the corruption is more pervasive than prosecutors have
uncovered."<br>
<br>
In other words, the strength of Vernon, the extreme form of a city
without an involved citizenry and without a critical press, is also its
weakness. If you have only 91 registered voters, it doesn't take many
voters to take over the city, much the same way you would take over a
company. Yes, hostile takeovers can happen to local governments.<br>
<br>
This hostile takeover was unsuccessful, but in the
fictional version, the takeover would be better planned and the sides
more equal. And it would most likely be violent, which Hollywood would like. But hostile takeovers can happen peacefully.<br>
<br>
For our government ethics purposes, what is important to recognize is
that with a lack
of civic involvement and media scrutiny, any town can effectively
be a Vernon, that is, a machine run by a small circle of people for
themselves. One big conflict of interest. Usually such a town is not
run by the town employees themselves, but by a party town or county committee.
And just as in Vernon, a party committee can be taken over by an
organized opposition, even by people who want their town to be run
ethically, not as a machine.<br>
<br>
We can talk about corruption, lack of ethical leadership and ethics
training,
and all the rest, but a lack of civic involvement and media scrutiny is
tough to beat when it comes to a local government's ethical environment. Yes, bloggers can make a difference, but they are
usually seen as having goals of their own, and their characters are
attacked, often successfully. It takes a lot to get people's attention.
And then you've got to gain their confidence.<br>
<br>
Take a look at the list of convicted local government officials at the
end of <a href="http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California2/CA_California_Corruption_265196CA…; target="”_blank”">the
AP story</a>. And for more information, I just discovered that, before
I arrived at City Ethics, <a href="http://www.cityethics.org/southgate" target="”_blank”">a
Los Angeles Times article</a> on Robles was reproduced on the website.<br>
<br>
By the way, there is another Albert Robles, who recently ran for L.A.
District Attorney. Please don't confuse the two!<br>
<br>
Robert Wechsler<br>
Director of Research-Retired, City Ethics<br>
<br>
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