A Little Primer On Corruption

A VETERAN REPORTER'S VIEW

Today Tracy Wood, veteran reporter who made her bones covering the Vietnam War up close and personal, wrote a piece in the Voice of OC, HERE, that will be very interesting reading for those of us who follow politics.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CORRUPTION
In her piece, The Ingredients of Corrupt Governments, Wood describes several characteristics of government corruption, regardless the level of government.  I found it fascinating reading and I overlayed some local government issues as I quickly scanned the screen. (Photo courtesy of Voice of OC)

TAKE SOME TIME TO READ HER WORK...
She begins with this paragraph: "Corruption doesn't happen by accident.  Here's a rundown of tools used worldwide by corrupt leaders."Without plagiarizing her work, here are some captions with my comments:

Patronage and its siblings, nepotism and cronyism.
Uh, huh.  And, I wonder where we might have seen this characteristic?

Secrecy, one of the most valuable tools of a corrupt government.

Although our local government touts "transparency", it's clear from watching it work that much is already decided before it ever hits the light of day.

Attacking and even shutting down a free press.
Hmmm, this has a very familiar ring to it.  As a person who is a part of that "free press", it's clear to me that some people in charge work very hard at keeping important issues from being discussed in the open and reported by the press.  Those of us who DO manage to report on controversial issues are vilified for our efforts.

Cash, gifts or assets handed or promised to a government official...

Well, I have absolutely NO proof that anything like that has ever happened in Costa Mesa.... yet.

Contracting/procurement.
Well, now... this is a whole different matter.  No bid contracts, consultants filling positions, sweetheart deals for campaign contributors... all that has a very familiar ring to it.

Financial accountability.
The 60th Anniversary Celebration fiasco... 'nuff said.

Election Fraud.
This one is tricky.... how do you count the late presence of a person who has absolutely no chance in an election, but may appear on the ballot to syphon off votes made based only on gender?  Is it "fraud"?  Probably not, but...

One-sided justice.

Does this apply to the very special relationship the Orange County District Attorney's Office has with certain local politicians?  Do the scales of justice balance fairly in our area, where we prosecute a person for vandalizing $15.00 worth of campaign signs, yet ignore tens of thousands of dollars of probable misuse of public funds on an unnecessary city party?

Keeping voters at a distance.

Take some time to read Wood's take on this issue.  Ethics is a cornerstone here and some of our local politicians have summarily rejected a City Ethics Policy with no reason given.

Deliberately running yes-men - and now women - for office.
Take a moment and think about our last couple campaign seasons, the people who ran and those who were appointed to commissions and committees.

Read it and contemplate...
As you read through Wood's piece and the linked resources I suspect you'll find yourself overlaying local circumstances in many instances.  Enjoy.