De Pompa plunders city’s coffers

First, I want to acknowledge the fine reporting of Veronica Rocha in the News-Press regarding the double-dipping of our latest civil servant to jump from the sinking ship of the city of Glendale (“De Pompa stays, gets hourly pay,” March 29).

Glendale Police Chief Ron De Pompa told the city manager last year that he wanted to take the money while it was still there for the taking. City Manager Scott Ochoa has had plenty of time to begin and finalize the process of selecting a new police chief without having De Pompa continue to plunder the city coffers.

Why is there not a second-in-command worthy of the task of interim police chief? Frankly, I thought better of De Pompa, but at the end of the day, those big fat pensions and benefits blind any ethics that any of the civil servants may have had.

Joe Nation, public policy professor at Sanford University and former Marin County assemblyman, said “the public employee retirement system in California is fundamentally corrupt.” It appears that De Pompa only felt the need to fight crimes that did not affect his pocketbook.

Carole Weling
Glendale