Scandals shake public’s trust in local government

(From the vcstar.com) Two blocks from an Oxnard City Hall targeted in an investigation on possible misuse of public funds, 52-year-old Rudy Perez laughed at the question, eyes widening, as if he were being asked if pigs fly. Trust government? “Hell, no. Would you trust them?” he said, voice rising. “They’re the biggest crooks in the world. You know that.”

Views of local government have been strained by a scandal in Bell, where three city administrators made combined salaries of $1.6 million, and reports that a former Vernon administrator who now works as a legal consultant for that city made more than $1 million annually.

In Oxnard, an ongoing investigation is focusing not on salaries, according to the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, but on the possible misappropriation of money, conflicts of interest and city construction contracts.

The office hasn’t filed any charges or revealed the results of its searches of City Hall and the homes of some city leaders. But the investigation and the attention it is generating mean trust in City Hall is now a matter of debate in downtown Oxnard.

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