Corruption severely undermines people’s faith in their public institutions, especially in the leadership. Yet, we hear too little about it from most leaders. Even those who are otherwise careful to fulfill their own responsibilities appear reluctant to speak up and nip misbehavior in the bud. Perhaps they do not understand that there is no such thing as a little corruption and that its corrosive nature eventually tarnishes everything, including their own reputations. When people believe that the leaders are in it for themselves, they view every decision with distrust.
Hardly a week goes by without a major story involving official corruption in California. Recent headline cases include financial misdeeds by a former Santa Clara County supervisor, indictments of former CalPERS officials for steering tens of millions of dollars in fees to an associate, alleged property tax trimming at the L.A. County Assessor’s Office, and the trial of City of Bell officials accused of padding their salaries and retirement packages. Smaller local cases, like officials accepting illegal gifts arranged for by associates doing business with the city or failing to recuse themselves from issues where they clearly have a direct financial interest, do not make statewide headlines, but they are not harmless.
A little cheating here and there is how major corruption gets started. If the perpetrators see there is no reaction or discover they can use their influence to plow under complaints, it becomes a green light for more and bigger abuse. No one stops stealing or selling their votes at the first $5,000 if they get away with it and more opportunities become available. That’s why newspapers report even small violations.
In most cases, there are employees and executives who know, or should know, what is going on but fail to report it officially; if they do report it, their complaints were often stifled by other employees or officials. Ethically sloppy elected officials rarely suffer disfavor from their fellows who fear losing a friendly vote on the public’s business. The implied threat is like monster’s defense mechanism in “Alien” – damage me and I’ll leak an acid that will kill us all.
The defenders of the, hear-no-, see-no-, and speak-no-evil school of leadership use old arguments to sell their passivity. Some, such as “he may be a crook, but he’s our crook” or “everyone is doing it,” are double insulting. What they are essentially saying is that it’s in your best political or financial interest not to be offended by corruption; therefore, you should look the other way and become part of the problem.
The report from CalPERS can make you ill. It describes various “pay to play schemes run by well-connected ‘insiders’ and their patrons in government service” – some patrons were already being paid $500,000 a year to protect the public’s interest.
The case of former Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa Jr., is enlightening. Almost every political and financial department head in one of the best-staffed counties in the nation appeared to know of his recurring failures to file the required fiduciary reports, provide receipts, justify spurious expenses, and other serious violations for nearly a decade. But they did almost nothing about it beyond some internal complaining. The county even stopped making the legally required reports of violations to the state years ago.
That’s why good newspapers cannot be political cheerleaders – we have all those we need among the beholden to the powerful. Someone has to watch the cash register, especially while the party is going on.
Marty Richman is a Hollister resident.
