Bell, California: Moving From Secrecy to Sunshine

by Alisha Green

March 21, 2013, 10:36 a.m.

Bell-seal

We can't keep our eyes off the City of Bell, California -- and for good reasons.

The city gained notoriety in 2010 when the Los Angeles Times began to expose high salaries for city officials who did next to nothing. It was a problem that had been brewing for years, as the LA Times charted in a timeline of the corruption.

Bell's government is different now.

Bell has most recently been in the news not just for reaching a culminating point in the scandal -- the trial of six former city council members on corruption charges -- but also for a high transparency grade as part of a government website review. Sunshine Review, a non-profit that examines state and local government transparency, gave the city an A- grade in the 2013 Sunny Awards. The grades are based on whether certain information like budgets, open meeting laws, and lobbying records are posted online, as outlined in this checklist.

This is one indicator of the many steps the city government has taken toward greater transparency. Bell's efforts are notable for several reasons.

DC's ANCs should put their financial reports online

by PolicyFellow

April 17, 2012, 11:28 a.m.

This post was written by Policy Fellow Matt Rumsey. A version was cross-posted on Greater Greater Washington where Matt is a contributor.

Washington, DC has a unique form of hyper local government. Advisory Neighborhood Commissions are psuedo-legislative bodies that represent neighborhood clusters and weigh in on a variety of local issues and provide constituent services. ANCs are made up of single member districts with each commissioner representing around 2,000 residents. There are currently 37 Commissions spread across the city.

The chairman of one of these commissions stole about $30,000 from his ANC last year. DC agencies struggle to provide enough oversight of dysfunctional ANCs. The District can start to increase accountability and transparency by making ANC financial reports available online.

ANCs must provide the DC Auditor with quarterly financial reports. The DC Auditor is responsible for auditing the financial information, maintaining a database of the information, and ensuring that the reports are in compliance.

It would be a small step to also make this information readily available to the public. The press and interested members of the public could then monitor the ANC financial reports and identify mistakes, omissions, and inconsistencies that may have been missed.

Under the current system, the DC government is not providing the resources required for adequate oversight. The size and scope of the ANC system outweighs the resources dedicated to overseeing it. The DC Auditor has many other responsibilities and the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, charged with administrating ANCs, only has two full-time staff members.

With financial information effectively hidden from the public, it takes extremely diligent individuals significant effort and time to uncover improper or missing information. In September 2011, the Washington Times discovered that the DC auditor approved ANC financial reports that were missing basic information, proper signatures, or evidence of tax deductions. The Times also reported that the Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions doesn't maintain records from the ANCs.

In the ANC 5B scandal, the DC Auditor initiated an audit after failing to receive financial reports for 3 consecutive quarters. The DC auditor currently posts a list detailing if and when ANCs submitted their financial reports.

If the database were available online, the public could have more easily and quickly found out about the DC Auditor's and the ANCs' failings, without having to rely on intrepid reporters sifting through hidden data.

Making this database available online should not place an undue burden on individual ANCs or the DC Auditor. But it will allow the press and public to better scrutinize these elected officials. Knowing that their records are easily available to the public may also encourage ANCs to follow proper financial procedure.

The ANC system is due for change. Putting these documents online would be a small step in the right direction.

Obama's Real Estate Deal and Local Entanglements

by Bill Allison

Nov. 20, 2006, 3:38 p.m.

In writing about Sen. Barack Obama's real estate dealings with Antoin "Tony" Rezko--a big fundraiser in Illinois politics who's currently under indictmnet for activities including allegedly "shaking down firms" with business before the state--Chicago Sun Times reporter Lynn Sweet draws an important distinction. Local Chicago reporters and columnists--including those from the Tribune (which broke the story), the Sun-Times, local radio and the local Associated Press crew--learn that Obama is involved with Rezko, and start asking hard questions. While other papers pick up the story, they're in essence repeating what the local reporters have dug out.

Ah, Local Corruption:

by Paul Blumenthal

May 18, 2006, 10:57 a.m.

Here at The Sunlight Foundation we focus our attention at the federal government, in particular Congress, and the many officials, members, staffers, and hangers-on who engage in dubious, if not criminal, behavior. In doing this we often overlook some of the better corruption stories from across the nation. Today we have an Arkansas mayor who solicited sex from two women after they fell behind on their water bills:

Troy Anderson, 72, is accused of abusing the public trust and patronizing a prostitute. After hearing complaints about delinquent water bills, Anderson solicited sex from the women, authorities said. In January, a woman who said she had refused Anderson's requests went to the mayor for help in getting her granddaughter out of state Department of Health and Human Services custody. The mayor told the woman he might be able to help, and that she should meet him at an apartment, the affidavit said. ... Another woman told investigators that she'd been having sex with Anderson for money for the past eight to 10 years. She said Anderson paid her $25 per encounter and that he allowed her to change the name on her overdue water bill, which kept her water turned on, the affidavit said. The mayor also gave the woman $60 to pay a late water deposit in exchange for sex, the affidavit said. The woman's bill was $617 overdue, the affidavit said.

It looks like Mayor Anderson is running for the Honorary Marion Barry Award.