The Anatomy of a Municipal Graft Scandal
Walla Walla looks to Ballard's sewer corruption and the failures of contractor H.E. Worley to warn citizens about municipal incompetence.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Attorney C. A. Reynolds of Ballard is in the city to investigate the record of H. E. Worley, who performed contract work for Walla Walla. After leaving Walla Walla last spring following financial disputes over the East Alder street flume, Worley secured work in Ballard as an inspector for a $200,000 sewer contract. The work was so poorly executed that the city must now relay all the pipe. Attorney Reynolds reports that a citizens' committee has found proof of a conspiracy involving city officials who slighted construction to divide the 'swag.' Worley is further accused of taking a 'rake-off' from the daily wages of laborers. This experience serves as a warning to Walla Walla that eternal vigilance is the price of honest government.
“The lesson to be learned from the costly experience of Ballard is that eternal vigilance on the part of the press and the taxpayers is the price of honest government.”
This 1903 report captures a perennial anxiety in municipal politics: the fear of 'boodlers' and the privatization of public infrastructure budgets for private gain. Just as Walla Walla scrutinized these contracts to protect the public purse, contemporary cities continue to grapple with the tension between private contractors and the oversight required to prevent corruption in public works.
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