that election experts said has significantly raised the possibility that state law had been violated. "Under state law, this is not to be done unless someone is ill or disabled. If, in fact, the election itself has been tainted by improper electioneering or other violations of state law, then that involves civil—maybe even criminal—penalties, and in some circumstances, you can overturn the election itself", Attorney General Jerry Brown said. "If (officials) met in a back room and said, 'How can we run an election where nobody shows up so we can then fatten our own salaries and pensions...that could constitute a violation that would bring into question the entire election." Scandal A series of investigative articles published by the Times in July 2010 revealed that several city officials in Bell were being paid salaries significantly higher than those in other cities. The two main reporters involved in the investigations were Ruben Vives and Jeff Gottlieb, and Kimi Yoshino was the guiding editor. In a press release issued through the Bell City Clerk's office, Mayor Oscar Hernandez claimed that "salaries of the City Manager and other top city staff have been in line with similar positions over the period of their tenure. He then accused the Times of having a "skewed view of the facts." Hernandez later apologized for what he called the city's "indefensible administrative salaries". He was later recalled, arrested, and indicted for fraud and other charges. Bell City Council members later voted to reduce their pay to that of what one councilman, Lorenzo Velez, was being paid: $8,076 a year. Prior to that meeting, all of the other council members were making at least ten times that figure. State Controller John Chiang said that the salaries in Bell had been "outrageous and unjustifiable" and a voter fraud hotline was set up. Documents released to the Times revealed that the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) knew four years previously that Rizzo had received a 47% pay increase to $442,000. Then-California Attorney General Jerry Brown maintained that such a large increase should have aroused suspicion from CalPERS. "These outrageous salaries in Bell are shocking and beyond belief," said Brown. "With record deficits and painful budget cuts facing California cities, astronomical local government salaries raise serious questions and demand a thorough investigation." The California legislature's law-making season ended in August 2010. The bill (AB1955) that would have strictly regulated elected