Present and Former Public Officials Take It on Chin From Irate Taxpayers

It seems nowadays you can hardly read a newspaper without finding a new report of some government employee’s embezzlement and fraudulent criminal act.

First, there is the situation where a Los Angeles Fire Department captain stole some $300,000 from a Firefighters Union Fund for his own personal use. This was followed by a group of Orange County higher echelon city employees ripping off the government employees pension fund and “pigging out” fraudulently and immorally.

The latest incident of this type is the Newport Beach city employee who diverted taxpayers’ money to his personal checking account for use in supporting his champagne lifestyle.

What outrages us taxpayers is the fact these government employees are not minimum wage workers. They are all in a very high salary range and have many perks, such as expense accounts, sick leaves, health insurance, gold-plated pensions and job permanency very rarely found in the private business sector. They are so loaded up with greed, larceny and immorality that they are never satisfied, so they have to steal from other people in order to support their lush lifestyle.

E.P. BENSON, Newport Beach