Anaheim, Adelanto, Bell, Lynwood, Oakland, South Gate, Vernon. These are just a few of the California cities rocked by corruption scandals in recent years.
Since 2014, 576 public officials have been convicted on federal corruption charges, according to the Department of Justice. That makes the Golden State a nexus for public malfeasance.
But why?
A perfect storm led us here, beginning with the state’s massive real estate boom and a flood of large scale investment from overseas. Foreign real estate development has been at the heart of L.A. City Hall’s scandals, for instance.
Other causes of corruption, the New York Times notes, include the “heavy concentration of power at Los Angeles City Hall, the receding presence of local news media, a population that often tunes out local politics and a growing Democratic supermajority in state government.”
“When a political party enjoys that much uncontested power, there’s no penalty for stepping over ethical or legal lines,” Dan Schnur, the former head of the state Fair Political Practices Commission, told the Times.
State and local governments have passed recent reforms to bolster ethics and transparency. San Francisco voters cracked down on behested payments two years ago after a public corruption scandal involving former Public Works Director Mohammed Nuru. Behested payments have long been tied to ethics problems in California.
The state Legislature recently expanded the Levine Act via SB 1439 (Glazer). The law prohibits elected local officials from accepting contributions in excess of $250 from anyone seeking contracts or permits/licenses from the board that official serves on.
Experts say there is much more work to be done at both the state and local levels. That’s going to take a more engaged citizenry. Corruption thrives in darkness, and real reform comes when the public demands it.