Judge’s Adams ruling is on the money

Randy Adams, the disgraced former police chief of several cities, including Glendale, got exactly what he deserved this week: rejection.

A judge denied Adams’ request to double his pension to $510,000 a year based on his yearlong stint as police chief of the tiny city of Bell, where he was fired amid an executive pay scandal and criminal investigation.

Adams would have become one of the highest-paid public pensioners in California had his request been approved, but the judge said the Bell City Council never approved his extravagant contract and that city officials tried to keep his salary secret.

The ruling was more than just an indictment of Adams’ money-grabbing — this is the man, by the way, who sent his new Bell colleagues an email saying, “I am looking forward to seeing you and taking all of Bell’s money?! Okay ... just a share of it.”

The decision was a big save for Adams’ former employers. Had the judge approved, CalPERS calculated that the higher pension would have cost the cities in which he formerly worked an additional $3.1 million, with Ventura paying $1.93 million, Simi Valley $600,000 and Glendale $536,000. Bell would have owed $84,579.

At such an economically difficult time for cities, that they could have been stuck with a higher bill for someone who so flagrantly disregarded their financial well-being would have truly been one slap too many.