With several political campaigns heating up and criticism of Hawaii politicos rampart, the situation in the Los Angeles suburb of Bell, is proof that it really could be worse.

Anyone who has been to Southeast LA County and has driven through Bell will find a city with a population of 36,657 (2008), approximately 90 percent of whom are Latin American. One of six residents are reportedly living below the poverty line.  The community is mostly residential and has little industry.

The scandal that came to light in the past few weeks involves senior city officials, including the mayor and city council members who reportedly approved annual salaries of $787,647 for the City Manager (up from $72,000 when he was hired in 1993) and $376,288 per year for his Assistant City Manager.  Is the Manager seven times more valuable than Kirk Caldwell (before Mufi resigned)?  The Police Chief’s salary of $457,000 is fifty percent higher than LAPD’s Chief, who runs a Department that is 25 times as large as Bell’s.  Is the Chief worth three times HPD Chief Kealoha’s?

The council members themselves were paid $90,000 to $100,000 for part-time work.  All that appears about to change.

One wonders, however, how anyone in senior management of a small city could think that no one would find out what was going on and that the officials would never be held accountable for what amounts to misuse of the small city’s funds.

What are people in power thinking?  Do they care?  Hopefully, Hawaii lawmakers have seen this and learn something.