Many political leaders seem to count on their constituents looking the other way. That seemed to be the case in Connecticut's "Belltown" of East Hampton. Town Manager Jeffrey O'Keefe resigned this month in a storm of controversy after town residents angrily protested his sudden firing back in June of town Police Chief Matthew Reimondo. Most of the Town Council backed up O'Keefe, citing financial cutbacks as the reason for the firing, but most townspeople saw it as payback for the chief’s role in investigating three sexual harassment complaints lodged against O’Keefe by three female town employees. This looked fishy to incensed citizens, and they had every right to feel that way. Shame on the majority of the seven Town Council members for allowing this to happen and compounding the impropriety by giving O'Keefe a $170,000 severance package after the tide of raucous town meetings turned against him. We haven't heard the end of this, as the council still has not listened to the voices demanding the police chief be given back his job.
Across the country in embattled Bell, California, it's being described as "corruption on steroids." The city's manager was pulling down a salary close to $800,000 a year while the police chief was getting half a million and part-timer council members got $100,000. This happened as the small city's unemployment rate hit 16%, services were cut back and taxes were oppressive. The revelations made national news and "people power" again came to bear on their local leaders who were bleeding the Los Angeles suburb dry. The tale of these two "bell towns" makes me wonder how many other leaders across the nation are hoping their constituents will look the other way. If we fail to watch our leaders, who can we blame but ourselves?
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