There's a lot of Gov. Arnold's top administrators who are ripping off taxpayers by charging the state for their personal activities. The story is carried on many outlets today and Carrie Lopez, Director of Consumer Affairs is one who got caught among ten top staffers. Lopez is supposed to be in charge of watching over to be sure that consumers don't get ripped off, and now we see that she and others are ripping off taxpayers themselves.
When he first took office, Schwarzenneger had a policy of requiring top officials to live in Sacramento to save travel expenses and time. Then Arnold did not enforce that restriction and now we have all the abuse as these politicians can get their thieving little minds to pull on us, and travel expenses fall into the plans.
A couple of words to insert here:
"reimbursement" and "resignations,"
and maybe a third word,
"prosecution."
The expense sheets they turn in to get money ususally require a sign-off as true and correct, sometimes with a "declaration under penalty of perjury." And if ANY do not, then THAT needs changing.
Too severe? You might recall how President Obama's nominees could not continue with their appointment process for problems with unpaid tax bills. At least they are already "charged tax" and just need to "pay" it. But HERE, the trickery was done with the idea that no repayment or refunding was ever going to be done. That's stealing and when you have it in government, it's also "corruption."
Removal from office would be some sign of attempting to keep the offices "clean," preserving some level of integrity. We all know there's much more that needs attention, as well. Allowing these offenders to keep their jobs without seeking resignation just gives everyone the sign that "you can cheat but we will just slap your wrists if we catch you, and come up with some phony speech to cover it, but you still keep your job." AND THAT'S A WRONG message- especially when lay offs of people in government are happening for lots who TRY to do a good job and do not violate rules or steal.
That's just at the state level. If you are local, it's not that much different. But deal with what you have now.
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