Summary Of Robert Arnold's Widespread Corruption

Political corruption is a major problem in the US today. It involves almost all levels of government and affects people from all walks of life. Public office is a noble post and citizens put their trust in government officials to carry out their constitutional duties for the benefit of the citizenry. The problem comes in where both elected and unelected officials perform their duties with the goal of personal gain in full view of the law. The ethical and moral wrongs of corruption are unjustifiable in any context.

The Progress movement or as many refer to as the Progressive era, was a time frame where Americans joined in varying groups to advocate reform across the United States. To elaborate, Progressives believed in widespread change for child labor, industrialization, government, racial reform, and women’s rights. Countless stories of corruption in these areas were brought to light in the Progressive era mostly due to the published writings of Muckrakers. Muckrakers, were journalists who wrote for popular magazines that attempted to expose corrupt political activities from their investigative journalism. Furthermore, I will discuss and compare these groups and their attempts for changes in the rights of child labor, women, acknowledgment of corrupt government practices, racial relations, and industrialization reform.

Bell, a city of 35,000 people, has remained to be the greatest scandal in California. For a long time, the manager of Bell City Robert Rizzo and the people he was working with exploited the governance systems and the finances of the city (McGrath 122). They used vast sums of money to pay their salaries. They also transformed the development agency of the town into a piggy bank, from where they borrowed funds in an improper way, deposited money in retirement accounts that was illegal, purchased property without accounting in and documents, approved fees and taxes that were illegal and found out a way of exempting themselves from state law. Court documents provide evidence to show that indeed, those people committed the crime of corruption.

Before the trial even started, the entire court house was evacuated due to the fire alarm going off. After the building was cleared, we were allowed back in and returned to normal operations. I stayed for half a day of the trial in this case. My first initial observations were that the lawyers from both sides were rather friendly with each other and talked as friends. I also noticed a difference in the way the lawyers performed during the trial. ASA Williams was very calm and collected, very well versed, and did not appear to react in any negative manner when the defense made an objection. In my opinion, PD Scarbrough did a mediocre job during this trial. She appeared to be nervous when she spoke to the judge or the jury, and also when the prosecution made any objection she appeared to get flustered rather quickly. In my opinion, the judge handled the trial extremely well and I feel that she ruled correctly when she made her

Corruption can come from many different people. When the same group of people are always in government it becomes a situation where this group of people runs government. And when someone wants to be elected they might do whatever the group of people wants to be in there favor. The Federalist paper number 68 it says “He might otherwise be tempted to sacrifice his duty to his complaisance for those whose favor was necessarily to the duration of his official consequence” (Hamilton). There are also people from foreign countries that want to be the leader of America just for the benefit of their home country. They

There have been countless cases where police officers have been tied to which relate to the theft of evidence, weapons, drugs and other items from the evidence room (Vibes). One of these cases was in Brooklyn, Illinois, where the Police Department was raided by a number of other law enforcement agencies and local news crews witnessed police from different agencies carrying equipment, computers, weapons and records out of the building and driving away with them to find evidence. (Vibes). What is even worse is when someone high in the government takes bribes because of greed. One major example of this is when Spiro T. Agnew was caught. He was an American politician who served as the 39th Vice President of the United States, under President Richard Nixon (Trex). Agnew had accepted a massive $147,500 in bribes while serving as Maryland's governor and the Vice President (Trex). This show even the highest people can have greed, like Agnew.

The Bell California trial was a corruption scandal that cost the small community of Bell California millions of dollars (Freeman, 2012). Robert Rizzo was the city manager of Bell. During his tenure, he along with several other city officials managed to increase their salaries and retirement pensions without the residence of Bell knowing it. Some of the amounts in increase far surpassed the head of the Los Angeles Police Departments salary. The salary and pension increases were done by illegal tax increases as well as other means that the taxpayers were unaware of (McGrath, 2013). Some of the monies were acquired by shaking down businesses for extra fees or threatened with their businesses being closed for failure to pay. The small community

However, you must ask yourself with the negatives of corruption being what is in the news and not the officers who set up softball leagues for youth in deprived communities, is it just a matter of people not being caught or even a front to make sure the people of the community would never expect them of wrong doing? The examples laid out show patterns of behavior, not one time slip ups that went on over lengthy time periods. Hiding what you do by projecting a positive side to the community and those around you in order to take any suspicion away from you about your morals. These are the same people who help old people across the road and come to the aide of citizens in trouble, the shining examples of taking pride in the community, yet the ones listed had a dark side and used their position to deceive and gain advantage in life at the expense of the same people they are supposed to serve and

On exactly December 24, 2014, in Rio Grande City the Starr County justice of the peace, Salvador Zarate, was charged with two counts of bribery and one count of a controlled substance. Zarate had agreed to take 500 dollars to lower a man and a women’s bond from 30,000 to 5,000 dollars. Being under doubt, an investigation was done, and a surveillance operation was directed with a specific end goal to get Zarate in the demonstration itself. This data was conveyed to agents by a witness who was likewise the one doing the cash trade amongst Zarate and the two people. At the point when Zarate agreed to the deal, he took the 500 dollars from the source and was immediately encompassed by agents. Investigators took the cash from Zarate and after that

Corruption spreads like a contagious disease. It starts with one infected person and then infects weak people who are not strong enough to defend themselves from the disease. In The Crucible, the theme of individual corruption infecting a whole society is prominent to the plot. The weak Puritan societal structure of the merge between strict religion and government makes it a prime target for corruption. Abigail Williams displays that one corrupt person erodes social order into a juncture of weakness through her conspiring characterization in the play The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

There is always a conductor of corruption, an authority figure who knowingly exploits the mind of others. They look at what they perceive is right versus what is actually right. In the case

On August 25th 2015 Co-Founder of OXYwater Preston J. Harrison and his Wife Lovena Harrison were sentenced for Wire Fraud, Money Laundering and Tax Crimes. (Investor Claims, August 2015). I chose this case because it has many different types of fraud, including wire fraud, money laundering, and tax fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, concealment of fraud, theft and misappropriation of funds. What makes this case so interesting is that the husband and wife co-owners of OXYwater are not the only criminals. Their co-conspirator was Thomas E. Jackson;

The Bell California corruption was a scandal in a small blue collar community involving city officials that misappropriation of public funds by increasing property taxes and using voter fraud. These official were a greedy criminal who created large salaries for themselves. According to Bell City Council stated that Robert Rizzo was the ringleader in the alleged corruption. The Council collected a total of $1.3 million by serving on the committee that did not exist. For those that serve on the board and increase their salary to $100,000 a year working part-time only which included retirement and medical benefits. In reality, the board did not perform any duties except 34 minutes was given for a brief meeting in which they talk about increasing

Please remember this case has not been to court. That is why the names and location are not disclosed.

Corruption comes primarily in two forms evil and political in most cases when discussing a government or person. Corruption in the government is typically due to money and the desires of the people who or person who creates the government system. Corruption is viewed as evil because a person with bad intentions or personal interest that only benefits him or she is considered corrupt. In the Man of the People, Chief Nanga is considered corrupt in many ways, but in the African society, he was not considered corrupt as the book may allude to. The people of the African society were accustomed to such behavior and treatment. Ultimately the concepts of corruption are viewed differently depending on what that society may view as corrupt and what is the norm.