Never Enough

Lotus Blossom, Monet Garden Display, New York Botanical Gardens 2012

Copyright: singeronthesand

Soldiers asked him [John the Baptist], "What should

we do?"  He told them, "no shakedowns, no blackmail - 

and be content with your wages."

Luke 3:14

Randy Adams has been a policeman for 40 years and a police chief in three cities. He was the Chief in Glendale, California, when he had a chance to go to Bell, California.  Bell was a smaller district, with a distinct perk:  it had one of the highest law enforcement paychecks in the nation.  When he landed the Chief job, he sent an email to the city administrator saying, "I am looking forward to seeing you and taking all of Bell's money."  Her return reply?  "LOL...well, you can take your share of the pie...just like us!!! We will all get fat together..."  His salary?  $457,000 a year - double what he was making in Glendale.  He was also spiking his pension.  From $240,000 a year, even a short time at Bell would put him closer to $510,000 per year.

One year after his hiring, Adams is out of a job and eight former Bell officials (including the glib city administrator and the chief administrative officer who hired Adams) are facing charges of looting the city treasury to the tune of $20 million.  Bell is countersuing their former Chief for return of his salary and any monies he might have garnered from the corruption scandal, and he is suing the city for severance pay!  He is also suing the California Public Employees Retirement System because it refuses to count his year of corruption in Bell toward his pension record.   At the hearing, Adams invoked his 5th Amendment right to not incriminate himself twenty times, including all questions regarding his Bell salary, those emails, and the corruption scandal that rocked the city.

Now obviously, I do not live in California, but somehow I think I could probably eke by on $240,000 a year in pension from the State of California.  Adding in Social Security, I would have over a quarter of a million dollars per annum.  John the Baptist's advice to the soldiers seems tailor-made for Mr. Adams:  "No corruption - and be satisfied with what you have."