Commentary There should be something noble about public service. Instead, many have seen it as their road to riches. The city of Bell, California, has become legendary for fiscal abuse. If a defined benefit pension benefit formula (as high as 90 percent) is based on one’s final year of salary, then why not inflate or spike that amount to obtain a lifetime of annual income greater than one earned while working? Former City Manager Robert Rizzo padded his annual salary to nearly one million dollars per year. His salary was paid out of various city funds, thus eluding the notice of independent outside auditors. It all ended after he pled no contest to corruption charges in 2013. In the neighboring city of Maywood, the former mayor, Ramon Medina, was charged earlier this year in a 34-count criminal complaint that alleged misappropriation of public funds, soliciting and receiving bribes, and embezzlement …