While Rizzo and his fellow pigs were getting fat, where were the citizens of Bell? Where was the LA Times two or three years ago to expose the corruption which gave rise to the rotten fruit still festering in that community to this day? Is it really acceptable to give the people of Bell a pass for not being civic-minded enough to keep an eye on their elected officials? To call the previous voter turn-out in that city anemic would be too magnanimous.
How many of Bell's residents are legal citizens? Is it any wonder that Rizzo and his sleazy rat-pack could take advantage of an enclave of alleged undocumented immigrants? How many of them could vote? How many of them would have dared to challenge the civil authorities, to complain in council meetings, or even recall renegade councilmembers?
When inhabitants do not bear the blessing of citizenship, the yield themselves to all sorts of government abuse, which they have no standing to resist. A sleepy electorate coupled with residents legally powerless to speak up and stop the corruption, both created the necessary conditions for graft and corruption to erupt and spread throughout the working-class community of Bell, California.