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To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (281890)	10/8/2010 11:01:57 AM
From: Think4Yourself	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Very observant! Any significance to the 1942 and 1947 stamped on the ends of two of the gold bars?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (281890)	10/8/2010 11:41:23 AM
From: No Mo Mo	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 306849

Shoo yeah. An award to those writers. You gotta love the low-rent, stained glass card table lamp amidst all that opulence. The oligarch's 'bad boy' concession?

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (281890)	10/8/2010 12:06:43 PM
From: Smiling Bob	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

HTF do you pick up on something like that? Your TV must be much bigger than mine Everytime I watch, I wait for the sliding elbow to unveil something more

To: patron_anejo_por_favor who wrote (281890)	10/8/2010 1:05:24 PM
From: joseffy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Rizzo may seek more money The city of Bell reneged on a severance agreement, his lawyer says. The details of the resignation are murky. By Jeff Gottlieb and Ruben Vives, LA Times October 8, 2010 latimes.com Robert Rizzo might be due back pay from the city of Bell after officials reneged on an agreement to provide the longtime city administrator with severance payments and other benefits when he resigned earlier this summer, his attorney claimed Thursday. Attorney James Spertus said the city is violating state labor laws by not paying Rizzo's salary and should begin new negotiations over his departure. The accusation threatens to create another potentially costly battle for the struggling city, which is operating with the majority of council members facing criminal charges and trying to deal with millions of dollars in revenue losses from taxes the state has determined were illegally levied. The Bell City Council accepted the resignations of Rizzo as well as Assistant City Administrator Angela Spaccia and Police Chief Randy Adams after a lengthy closed-door meeting July 23. Ever since, considerable mystery has surrounded the terms under which the three officials agreed to leave. The resignations came after The Times revealed the huge salaries that Rizzo and other top city officials were receiving. Rizzo was set to earn more than $1.5 million in compensation this year, making him one of the highest paid officials in the nation. He and seven other city leaders were charged last month with public corruption. Since he resigned, Rizzo has also requested that the city pay his legal bills. Jamie Casso, Bell's interim city attorney, declined to comment on Spertus' claims, saying the dispute was confidential because it was a personnel matter. A source familiar with the negotiations said the City Council initially agreed on a severance package for Rizzo but later voted to accept his resignation without any benefits attached. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because a personnel issue was involved. Some community activists said it was outrageous for Rizzo to demand more money from the city and urged city officials to take a hard line. "This is Rizzo's way of spiting us," said Nestor Valencia, a community activist. "The city will now have to get a lawyer and fight him on this. He's literally just abusing us more." In an interview Thursday, Spertus said the current city manager has rebuffed his efforts to negotiate the terms of Rizzo's departure from the city. Spertus initially said he believed Rizzo was owed back pay and other benefits from the city. In a later interview, however, the attorney said he was not at this time requesting a specific sum of money but wanted to get the city back to the negotiating table. Spertus provided an Aug. 30 letter he sent to Mayor Oscar Hernandez saying two attorneys for the city told Rizzo that the council had voted 5 to 0 in closed session to give Rizzo severance and/or support a workers' compensation claim. The amount of severance is not specified in the letter. In the letter, Spertus says the city had agreed not to sue Rizzo or publicly disparage him. The letter says that then-City Atty. Ed Lee and Tom Brown, then-special counsel for Bell, briefed Rizzo on the deal. Brown said he could not discuss the issue because of lawyer-client privilege. Lee could not be reached for comment. But Spertus said Brown confirmed the deal to him. Spertus said that in August he received an undated one-paragraph letter from Mayor Hernandez saying, "This letter shall confirm your voluntary resignation of employment from the City of Bell on July 22, 2010...." But the note did not mention the conditions Spertus said the city had earlier agreed on. "The city can't just declare an employee resigned and stop paying him," Spertus said. Councilman Lorenzo Velez, the only sitting Bell council member not charged with a crime, denies he ever backed any special benefits for Rizzo.