Bell, CA Officials, the L.A. Times, and the Unindicted Jurists of the U.S. Attorney's Office in L.A.

By now Californians and the nation are aware of the enormous salaries of the City of Bell, CA officials, and the aftermath reactions by Bell residents and others. Much of the reaction, as well as the knowledge of the salaries, is due to the investigation and publication of the L.A. Times. There is no dispute that the information should have been provided, especially to Bell city residents, because its clear that they were unaware of the salaries, and they should have been aware. And, the L.A. Times have conducted other investigations on middle class minorities(for the most part)(the majority of the Bell officials in question is minority), such as nurses (especially the Martin Luther King,Jr. Hospital nurses),union officials, probation workers, etc.. But, the question is: why doesn't the L.A. Times perform investigative reports on state and federal judges(who are public officials, by the way), and other federal officials suspected of criminal conduct (with supportive evidence), and even, in some instances,where the suspected conduct has been corroborated by action by the FBI? Could it be because the judges are white? Or, perhaps because they are judges? Or, maybe both (because they are white judges)? Or, is there some other "mutual interests", or other reasons why their conduct is not reported? The judges certainly, as mentioned, are public officials, like the Bell officials (and thusfar, the Bell officials have not been accused of misconduct or criminal conduct (although a fishing expedition has now begun) --- and certainly negotiating for and ultimately obtaining a high salary, alone, is not misconduct or criminal conduct---merely receiving high salaries)), and their conduct, like the Bell officials, is at least suspect; and there are more than one judge or other official (or several). I would be interested in the L.A. Times response. The judges I'm referring to are those with pending cases in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles, such as Steven Hintz, Dickran Tevrizian, William Schwarzer, Cathy Catterson, etc.. I'm sure if the Times did reporting on these individuals, it would garner the same public response and outrage as the Bell officials reporting did, and for the same reason, i.e., outrageous conduct by public officials. And, the Bell officials did not commit or cause any direct harm to Bell citizens (only unintentional indirect harm, in the sense that perhaps the excess salaries could have gone to other public programs or salaries,e.g. laid-off workers ). On the other hand, the judges and other officials referred to here caused intentional direct harm,e.g., racial discrimination, fraud, false statement, and obstruction of justice, to citizens, but their conduct is not investigated or reported. Strange, very strange, don't you think?

Moreover, the result of the L.A. Times investigating and reporting on minority public officials is minority on minority in-fighting, i.e., minority Bell citizens calling for the ouster of minority public officials, while the white majority, including the L.A. Times, sit back and watch the fallout (including, now, the firing of a minority city attorney for Downey, who was city attorney for Bell when the salaries were assigned). It was similar with the M.L.K., Jr. minority nurses being pitted against the minority Watts community (but, the major uproar came not from the minority community, but the white press, print and broadcast). Of course, if questioned, the L.A. Times would likely state that its reporting had nothing to do with the fact that Bell is a minority city, rather, it was simply a happenstance of such an important nature that the American "public" (not just Bell residents) should be informed about it. Sure! Then why not investigate and report the outrageous conduct of some of the white judges?

Bell residents should be thankful to be informed of the outrageous salaries(and there is no question that the salaries, for public officials, are outrageous) of the various Bell officials in question, but they should be apprehensive about believing that it was done just for their benefit. It was done because it is a sensational newsstory that will sell newspapers for the Times now and in the future; and, because it did not involve white officials (the Times is careful not to state, from my reading of their stories, that Bell officials are the "highest" paid officials in their positions in the country, merely "among" the highest, which means that there are other officials in the country, and perhaps California, making as much or more than the Bell officials, and are probably white--and they have not been reported by the Times. But, yes, this is speculation. I could be wrong. So, L.A. Times, prove me wrong. Continue your investigation and provide some of the other high salaries at other California municipalities and nationwide and provide the race or color of those making those high salaries. Then I, and other members of the public, will be able to see if the Times reporting was biased or not.

In the end, this piece is not written so much to condemn the L.A. Times, although it should be condemned if its reporting is biased or racist, as much as to call for "fairness" in reporting. If the Times is going to report on the outrageous conduct of minority public officials, then it should also report on on-going or simultaneous outrageous conduct of white officials, especially the aforementioned judges and other officials with pending complaints against them in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles; otherwise, it is clearly biased or racist reporting.