Political Science Commons^™

Corruption On Steroids - The Bell Scandal From The Legal Perspective, David J. Aleshire, Anthony R. Taylor

Local Government Reconsidered

This white paper focuses on the legal aspects of the 2010 Bell Scandal and the appointment of David Aleshire as the first permanent city attorney since the corruption scandal. This white paper provides a look at the current financial situation in the city of Bell and how the city has tried to move past the scandal.

Building Basta, Cristina Garcia

Local Government Reconsidered

Before the scandal broke there were plenty of Bell residents that felt something was really wrong with city government. The residents of Bell had no real proof. Getting information was nearly impossible, but there were signs that something was wrong. For example, how does a councilmember from a working class community, where the median income was $30,000 a year, afford to drive around in a $100,000 Mercedes Benz -- when his main source of income was a small corner market? Or, why did property taxes continue to increase, but services continued to decline? And, why did so many Latino teenagers …

Baby Bells, Teri Sforza

Local Government Reconsidered

After Bell scandal broke, many officials asserted that these sorts of startling public payouts were tremendous aberrations, when in reality these scandals have occurred multiple times before. In this white paper Sforza brings attention to municipal corruption scandals throughout the state of California and the lack of attention they recieved when the scandals broke in comparison to Bell's.

City Of Bell - Audit Report: Administrative And Internal Accounting Controls, John Chiang

Local Government Reconsidered

This is a report of the State Controller’s Office audit of the City of Bell’s administrative and internal accounting controls system. The audit was conducted at the request Interim City Administrator Pedro Carrillo for an assessment of the adequacy of the city’s controls to safeguard public assets and to ensure proper use of public funds.

Searching For Virtue In The City: Bell And Her Sisters, George Frederickson, Jack Meek

Local Government Reconsidered

The burden of our claim here is that virtue in the city is to be found not so much in the abstractions and theorizing of higher philosophy but in “vulgar ethics,” Lewis C. Mainzer’s brilliant description of moral education in the classroom and street-level moral practices in the city’s departments and agencies (1991). The hope of virtue in the city is to be found not just in the individual propensity to be virtuous but more so in the development of political and organizational rules and procedures, in virtuous leadership, and in the development of virtuous public cultures.

Bell: A Total Breakdown, Jeff Gottlieb

Local Government Reconsidered

In this white paper, Jeff Gottlieb writes about uncovering the Bell Scandal while writing an investigative article on possible malfeasance in the neighboring city of Maywood. This breakdown provides a closer look into the corruption of city officials in Bell, specifically focusing on former city administrator, Robert Rizzo.

Predator State: Corruption In A Council-Manager System–The Case Of Bell, California, Dr. Tom Hogan-Esch

Local Government Reconsidered

This article seeks to explain recent patterns of corruption in the City of Bell, California. After reviewing the literature on municipal corruption, Progressive reform, and political participation in immigrant communities, the article examines the Bell case study. It argues that the council-manager form of government contributes to civic disengagement in California’s high-immigration cities. Insulated from civic accountability, Bell became effectively a ‘predator state’ as local officials exploited governmental power and resources for personal gain. Implications for political reform and local state- building in high immigration cities are discussed.

Bell And Sacramento, Joe Matthews

Local Government Reconsidered

In this white paper, Matthews explores corruption scandals prior to the Bell Scandal. He also presents two paradoxes to the Bell Scandal. One is that the Bell officials had the power to get into so much trouble in no small part because their power was so limited. Another paradox is that Bell was at once both a white- hot national scandal, singular in the attention it drew, and also just another small chapter in a long-running California scandal.

Unity Through Crisis: How A Latino And Lebanese American Coalition Helped Save Democracy In The City Of Bell, Michael Moodian

Local Government Reconsidered

This white paper explores how a Latino and Lebanese American coalition helped save democracy in the City of Bell, CA, where an atrocious misappropriation of public funds was uncovered in 2010. The paper provides a brief history of Bell, followed by an explanation of its shifting demographic makeup to a majority Latino municipality. In the 1970s, a small group of immigrants from Yaroun, Lebanon, moved to Bell, establishing a Lebanese American community that currently numbers approximately 2,000. In the aftermath of news coverage of outrageously high municipal salaries in the city, the Bell Association to Stop the Abuse (BASTA) forme …

Rebuilding Bell, California: Review And Recommendations For Continued Improvement Of Accountability, Oversight And Transparency, Jennifer G. Rodgers, Jacob Watkins

Local Government Reconsidered

Rodgers looks into the city of Bell, California and its corruption problems in 2010. Bell's city manager at the time, Robert Rizzo, had developed a plan to enrich himself at the city’s expense, and covered his tracks by involving numerous other city officials in his corrupt scheme, including the city councilmembers who were supposed to serve as a check on Rizzo’s power.

City Of Bell – Reformed And Reborn, Doug Willmore

Local Government Reconsidered

This article looks at the 2010 Bell scandal as the worst form of abuse of the public trust and treasury and how the people of Bell have started to rebuild their city. This paper focuses on the citizens of the Bell community reclaiming and reforming their government. Changes that have occurred since the scandal have included: implementing to enhance transparency and accountability, instituting better governance, and restoring the City’s fiscal health.

Introducing Crhr Research Reports, Robert Z. Selden Jr.

CRHR Research Reports

Intruduction to CRHR Research Reports.

Number 2 - The Role Of Western Democratic System Of Governance In Exacerbating Ethnic Conflicts In Africa: The Case Of Ghana's Democratic Dispensation, 1992-2012, David Kwasi Bansah

Peace and Conflict Management Working Papers Series

This paper interrogates the influence of Western forms of democracy on ethnic conflicts in Africa through a case study of Ghana’s adoption of multiparty democracy between 1992 and 2012. It discusses the transition of African traditional systems of government before, during, and after colonization. The paper also shows how democracy, by definition and in terms of governance, cannot solely be a Western idea since many African societies had democratic elements in their systems of government before the arrival of the Europeans. Relying on qualitative secondary data, and the analysis of fierce and acrimonious competition that have characterized multiparty democratic elections …

Megan Burke, Charlie Schlenker

Interviews for WGLT

Illinois Wesleyan University Sociologist Meghan Burke studies the way people talk and think about race. She has always been interested in how that shapes their desire to get involved in their communities. Her first book looked at that question among people in liberal diverse communities in the Chicago area. She has now focused on TEA party people in Illinois and neighboring states.

The book is "Race, Gender, and Class in the TEA Party." She tells GLT's Charlie Schlenker that the movement reflects much of America on these issues.

Flipping The Classroom And Student Performance In Advanced Statistics: Evidence From A Quasi-Experiment, Michael Touchton

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

I administer a quasi-experiment using undergraduate political science majors in statistics classes to evaluate whether “flipping the classroom” (the treatment) alters students’ applied problem-solving performance and satisfaction relative to students in a traditional classroom environment (the control). I also assess whether general student characteristics such as when and where students took the prerequisite course, grade point average (GPA), and gender influence performance. I find flipping the classroom gives students statistically significant advantages in difficult, applied areas emphasized in class. Furthermore, students in the flipped classroom feel they learned more and enjoyed the course more than those in a traditional classroom. …

People Of Faith And Prophetic Voices: The Role Of Faith Voters And Activists In Recent Minnesota Political History, Eric S. Fought

Forum Lectures

In November of 2012, political scientists, other experts familiar with Minnesota politics and the general public were stunned by the comfortable defeat of two constitutional amendments by voters. Amendment one, also known as the marriage amendment, would have changed the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage in Minnesota. Amendment two, known as the voter ID or voter restriction amendment, would have required voters to show a photo ID in order to cast a vote in Minnesota elections. The Voter ID question enjoyed 80% favorability just a year before the election.

In both of the campaigns against these ballot measures, highly …

Symposium - The 9 Billion People Question: The Challenge Of Global Resource Scarcity

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Food As A Key Resource For Security And Stability: Implications Of Changes In The Global Food System 1950-2000, Bryan L. Mcdonald

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

Food security remains an urgent problem affecting the national security and interests of states, as well as the human security of people and communities around the world. This article examines the changing landscape of food security threats and vulnerabilities by examining three sets of concerns that are converging to amplify, disrupt, and transform food relations: nutrition, food safety, and global environmental change. Ensuring food security will require utilization of a range of capabilities from the state, private, and non-state sectors to confront world food problems and build a sustainable and resilient world food network.

World Poverty And Food Insecurity, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

The article draws upon the insights of Yale philosopher Thomas Pogge to suggest a way that we might think about the structural inequities in the global economic order that produce food insecurity. The article argues that chronic undernourishment is not a function of food scarcity, bad weather, or simply bad luck. Rather, it is a function of international political and economic arrangements that systematically benefit the wealthy at the expense of the poor. The article concludes with several legal and policy reforms that the United States and the European Union can adopt to reduce the burdens that our societies place …

The Future Of Food Assistance: Opportunities And Challenges, Erin Lentz

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

The past decade has seen a radical remaking of direct food security interventions and an expanded understanding of preventing undernutrition. Today, there are more food assistance choices; researchers have identified the first 1000 days as a critical window for life-long cognitive development and health outcomes; and our understanding of the value of more tailored, nutritionally-specific interventions has expanded. The opportunities resulting from these findings can generate more effective food assistance programs. However, benefits from these findings will only be achieved if policymakers and practitioners clarify and prioritize among objectives and seek ways to build greater programming flexibility into the current …