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Angela Spaccia Blames Rizzo For Keeping Her $500K Salary From City Council

LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — The former assistant manager of Bell denies blindsiding the City Council about huge raises that led to a corruption scandal.

Angela Spaccia told jurors at her trial on Thursday that she wrote out contracts that included raises of about 50 percent for herself and City Manager Robert Rizzo but didn't include them in the agendas for City Council meetings where budgets were approved.

KCAL9's Dave Lopez reports that under cross-examination, Spaccia testified she instead gave them to Rizzo, who instructed her to omit the figures from the documents.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Sean Hassett asked Spaccia about her 2005 salary of $500,000.

"So you deliberately left your contract off the budget items that went to the City Council?"

"Well, I wouldn't say deliberately," she responded, alleging, "Mr. Rizzo told me to leave it out."

Spaccia also testified she padded her years of service with Bell to increase her pension and tripled her vacation time.

She also said that although she was in charge of typing up the personal services contracts, she did not pay close attention to what she was typing up.

Spaccia and Rizzo were fired after disclosures that they were earning $500,000 a year and more in salary and benefits. Authorities claim the pair looted the blue-collar community.

Rizzo pleaded no contest to 69 corruption charges, leaving Spaccia to stand trial alone on 13 charges.

Spaccia will be back on the stand for cross-examination Friday.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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