Attorney general Jerry Brown, district attorney Steve Cooley announce coordination on Bell investigation

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State Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown said Tuesday his office was coordinating its investigation into fiscal mismanagement and possible voter fraud in Bell with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

Brown and Los Angeles Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley have a lot in common. They’ve both been looking into the Bell scandal since the reports of exorbitant salaries first surfaced in the Los Angeles Times. And they’re both running for statewide office -- Brown is the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Cooley is the Republican pick for attorney general.

The announcement of the combined investigation was made in a statement late Tuesday night. ‘What happened in Bell is a travesty, and I intend to get to the bottom of it and to get all the relief that the law allows,’ Brown said. ‘The Los Angeles district attorney’s office has a decades-long record of pursuing public corruption, and we will do so in this case,’ Cooley said.

--Anthony York in Sacramento