Posted on 02/01/2005 5:53:24 AM PST by calcowgirl
SAN DIEGO – An embattled trustee described the "culture of secrecy" she claims exists on San Diego's retirement board during today's inaugural meeting of a City Council committee established to promote open government.
The Government Efficiency and Openness Committee met to discuss whether the 13-member pension board violated California's open meeting laws when it barred trustee Diann Shipione from its closed-door sessions.
A tearful Shipione told the committee the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System board acts as a "sovereign nation" occupied by "bullies" and "cowards" with a history of non-compliance with the Brown Act.
"This situation at the retirement system is emblematic of a very, very serious problem about secrecy," Shipione said.
Shipione said the pension board "laughs" at the City Council and "ridicules" the courts and the press. She said the board barred her from talking to the media, held secret closed-session meetings and eliminted the taking of minutes at board meetings.
Shipione has been an outspoken critic of the chronic underfunding of the city's pension system, which faces a $1.3 billion shortfall.
She said the majority of the problem was due to "illegal" underfunding rather than stock market losses.
Shipione also revealed that the system has paid monthly pension checks to hundreds of people that the Social Security Department claims are deceased.
"My inquires on this were blocked," she told the committee.
Pension officials had planned to make a citizen's arrest of Shipione and have her removed by police from November's meeting. They did not follow through because she left the building before the board went into closed session.
While in closed session, and without notice, the board voted to bar Shipione from future closed-door meetings for allegedly improperly disclosing confidential information about attorney fees.
Shipione denied the accusation.
She said she only revealed the amount of money that the SDCERS' system had paid in attorneys fees related to pension underfunding litigation.
"The board never said this was privileged information," she said.
City Attorney Michael Aguirre is investigating whether the board's vote to bar Shipione from closed-door meetings amounted to a violation of the state's open meetings laws established under the Brown Act.
In a statement read to the committee, SDCERS General Counsel Loraine Chapin denied that there had been any Brown Act violations.
"There was never a public notice or agenda item regarding the removal of Diann Shipione from the SDCERS board and expulsion from closed session meetings because this was an outcome of a properly noticed closed session matter regarding pending litigation," she said.
Chapin left the meeting immediately after giving her statement and refused to answer questions from the committee's chair, Councilwoman Donna Frye.
"In my opinion it shows the arrogance of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System for the counsel to not have the courtesy to stay here and answer some very basic questions," Frye said.
Aguirre, who has referred to the board as a "rogue agency," has moved to take over as the panel's chief legal adviser. Board President Frederick Pierce has resisted, maintaining that Aguirre's takeover attempt is illegal.
The retirement board filed suit in Superior Court last week in an attempt to block Aguirre from taking control. The suit also seeks to reclaim documents Aguirre seized from current and former trustees.
The committee requested that the City Attorney's Office provide them with a report on Feb. 14 that outlines options to resolve possible Brown Act violations, including whether the City Council can file suit against the retirement board.
It just gets better and better.
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Probably the monthly payment checks to dead people are to encourage them to vote. What's wrong with that?
Hey... I'll vote. Where do I sign up for that program? LOL.
Shipione BUMP!
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