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By John Rogers Associated Press LOS ANGELES » The former city manager of Bell was sentenced Wednesday to 12 years in prison and or - dered to make restitution of $8.8 million in a corruption scheme that nearly bank- rupted the small, blue-col- lar city. Robert Rizzo apologized during sentencing in Los Angeles County Superior Court, telling Judge Kath - leen Kennedy he breached the public's confidence. "It is a good thing to hear that he is sorry, and I'll take him at his word that he is sorry," Kennedy said before addressing Rizzo directly. "But it doesn't change the fact that, Mr. Rizzo, you did some very, very bad things for a very long time." The judge pointedly dis - missed suggestions that she might sentence him to as few as five years, and she re- ferred to the famous quote, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts ab- solutely." "That is the theme of what happened in Bell," Kennedy said. "There were no checks and balances to control Mr. Rizzo and those that were in power in the city." She said Rizzo and the other officials "gradually just chiseled away at any controls that anyone else would be able to assert." Rizzo previously pleaded no contest to 69 counts in - cluding conspiracy, misap- propriation of public funds and falsification of public records. It was revealed in 2010 that Rizzo was giving him - self an annual salary and benefits package of $1.5 mil- lion in the city where a quar- ter of the population lives below the federal poverty line. His $800,000 in wages alone was double that of the president of the United States. Rizzo, who was Bell's city manager for 18 years, told the judge he ran "a very good, tight ship" for the first 12 years but then went astray when he began to put him - self, not city residents, first. "I'm very, very sorry for that. I apologize for that. If I could go back and make changes, I would," he said. Deputy District Attorney Sean Hassett told the judge the money that Rizzo actu - ally cost Bell in the form of illegally collected taxes and the settlement of lawsuits amounted to more than $150 million. "That resulted in bor - rowing that will not be paid back until 2040," the prose- cutor said. On Monday, Rizzo was sentenced separately to 33 months in federal prison for income tax evasion after he acknowledged report - ing more than $700,000 in phony deductions to reduce tax liability on money au- thorities say he stole from Bell. The sentence in the cor- ruption case will run concur- rently with the federal term. Rizzo will serve the first 33 months in federal prison then go to state prison. He will be on parole for three years after he serves his time. He was ordered to sur - render by May 30. At the time of his plea in the corruption case, Rizzo had offered to help prose - cutors convict his chief as- sistant, Angela Spaccia, who was later sentenced to nearly 12 years in prison. Defense attorney James Spertus said Rizzo's ac- k nowle d gement of h i s wrongdoing and offer to help prosecutors warranted a sentence of no more than five years in the corruption case. "The court can send an appropriate message to the public: acceptance of respon - sibility and cooperation mat- ter," Spertus said previously. Spertus has indicated that Spaccia, as the official who drew up illegal employ - ment contracts that gave Rizzo his salary and benefits and herself $564,000, played perhaps an equal role in the scam. Most of the City Council members were also making about $100,000 a year for meeting about once a month. They face terms ranging from probation to four years in prison when they are sen - tenced later this year. "Nobody wanted to upset the apple cart because they were being paid so well," the judge said during Rizzo's sentencing. Residents were so angry when the corruption was ex - posed that they held a recall election and tossed the offi- cials from office. An audit by the state con- troller's office found Bell ille- gally raised property taxes, business license fees, sew- age fees and trash collec- tion fees; illegally diverted gas taxes and other state and federal funds; and is- sued $50 million in voter- approved municipal bonds for a public park that was never built. A good portion of that money, auditors found, went into the salaries and pen - sions of the top officials. BELL Ex-city leader gets 12 years in prison By Judy Lin Associated Press S ACR A M E N TO » S ay i n g the state's budget surplus should be used to pay down debt, Gov. Jerry Brown on Wednesday called a special session of the Legislature to make changes to a rainy- day fund measure on the November ballot. He wants to replace the current bal - lot measure, which seeks to divert more state revenue into the rainy-day fund and would make it harder to tap the money except in case of emergencies such as wild - fires or earthquakes. Instead, Brown wants a new constitutional amend- ment that will focus on sta- bilizing the budget and al- low future governors and legislatures more flexibility in using it. He wants to fund the reserve account by set - ting aside some capital gains revenue when it spikes, as it is doing this year. The money would then be reserved for school spending and for pay - ing down debt and unfunded liabilities. "We simply must prevent the massive deficits of the last decade, and we can only do that by paying down our debts and creating a solid rainy day fund," the gover - nor said in a statement. Voters approved a state rainy-day fund in 2004, fill- ing it with 3 percent of the state's annual revenue. The governor's office said the current fund has no restric - tions on when the money can be withdrawn and requires deposits even in years when the state is running a bud - get deficit. Brown's changes would allow lawmakers to di- rect as much as 10 percent of general-fund revenue to the rainy-day account. The proposal received immedi - ate buy-in from some in the business community. "Adopting an effective rainy-day reserve should be the state's top fiscal policy," Allan Zaremberg, chief exec - utive of the California Cham- ber of Commerce, said in a statement. "California's bud- get crises were caused by the Legislature spending one- time revenues for ongoing programs. A solid reserve requirement will remove the California budget from the fiscal roller coaster." Assembly Speaker John Perez, D-Los Angeles, said he welcomed the governor's call for a special session starting April 24. "We need to establish a solid system for saving money in good years, so that we can bet - ter weather the bad years," Perez said in a statement. Republicans have criti- cized Democrats for trying to weaken the current mea- sure, ACA4, which was the result of a 2010 budget com- promise brokered by Dem- ocrats, Republicans and then-Gov. Arnold Schwar- zenegger, a Republican. That measure originally was sup- posed to go before voters in November 2012. Replacing ACA4 won't be easy for the governor because it requires a two- thirds vote of the Legisla - ture. While Democrats have a slim supermajority in the Assembly, the Senate re- cently dropped below two- thirds majority when it sus- pended three Democratic lawmakers caught up in sep- arate criminal cases. BudGET Go v. B ro wn c al ls s pe ci al s es si on o n ra in y da y fu nd Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO » An ap- peals court said Wednesday that federal officials should have consulted wildlife agen- cies about potential harm to a tiny, threatened fish before issuing contracts for water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. An 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Ap - peals in San Francisco ruled that the U.S. Bureau of Rec- lamation violated the En- dangered Species Act when it failed to consult with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice or the National Marine Fisheries Service in renew- ing 41 contracts a decade ago. The appeals court sent the case back to a trial judge for further proceedings. The ruling arises from one of several lawsuits filed by the National Resources Defense Council and other environmentalists seeking to protect the Delta smelt. The ruling won't affect water flows because protections for the smelt were kept in place during the lawsuit. "This about how we are going to manage the water in the future," said Doug - las Obegi, a lawyer with the National Resources Defense Council. Water-rights holders and government lawyers argued that consultation wasn't nec - essary because the U.S. Bu- reau of Reclamation was re- quired to renew the con- tracts and had no discretion over terms of the agreement that would control water lev- els in the Delta. But the 9th Circuit dis- agreed, saying the bureau had discretion over price and delivery times of the water, which impact wa - ter flow. Therefore, it has to consult with one of the other two agencies. The court also said that the bureau wasn't required to renew the con - tracts. Stuart Somach, a lawyer representing water-rights holders who intervened to fight the lawsuit, said the rul - ing "destabilizes" the state's water-allocation system be- cause it raises uncertainty over the contracts and wa- ter delivery. dELTA Court rules for environmentalists in water fight Crossroads Feed & Ranch Supply 595 Antelope Blvd•530-529-6400 www.Shopcrossroads.net Jeans $ 20 .00 off - Mention or Present coupon - $ 10 .00 off Jeans Western heritage. Ca ttlemen and w omen. Bigtime rodeo. Old Calif or nia. Victorian homes. Antique stor es. World class hunting and fishing. Ag ri-T ourism. World-famous motorcycle road. Alpine hiking and camping. Volcanic legacy. Award winning olive oils. Slow foods. Wineries in the pines. Warm, welcoming people. We love it here. They will, too. 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