California Attorney General Jerry Brown said Wednesday the state will sue eight council members and former officials of the city of Bell for the return of hundreds of thousands of dollars of “unwarranted” salaries.
The suit charges the officials with fraud, civil conspiracy, waste of public funds and breach of fiduciary duty.
“We are filing our lawsuit on behalf of the public to recover the excess salaries that Bell officials awarded themselves and to ensure their future pensions are reduced to a reasonable amount,” Brown said in a statement.
The small Southern California city sparked an uproar over highly paid public officials and unusual financial practices after a report disclosed that Bell paid its city administrator almost $800,000 a year.
Brown said he is widening his probe of public salaries and benefits to many other local and government agencies that are paying annual salaries in excess of $300,000 and on dozens of public pensioners who are receiving annual pensions of more than $200,000.
The attorney general said he is serving a subpoena on the city of Vernon to obtain compensation records for city officials and employees who have reportedly received excessive pay.
He said he wants legislative action to reform salaries and pension practices.
Brown is running for governor against EBay’s former chief executive, Meg Whitman.
