The Pension Scandals in Sonoma and Marin Counties
The Pension Scandals in Sonoma and Marin Counties
Two Case Studies on How Two Counties Purchased Outside Legal Opinions That Delivered Aggressively Self-Serving Interpretations of the Law in Response to Grand Jury Reports That Found That Substantial Pension Benefits had Been Granted Illegally. Introduction In California, public pensions are guided by different divisions of the government code. The largest administrator is CalPERS which administers...
By John Moore
The Mechanics of Pension Reform – Local Actions
The Mechanics of Pension Reform – Local Actions
Part 2 of 2… Introduction In Part One, I enumerated reforms needed at the state level. That list was in part plugging up the “cheats” used to run up the statewide pension deficit of about a trillion dollars. Employee unions control the state legislature, the attorney general, all executive offices and all retirement administrators; therefore...
By John Moore
The Mechanics of Pension Reform – State Actions
The Mechanics of Pension Reform – State Actions
Part 1 of 2… Since the passage of SB 400, adopted by the California Legislature in 1999 (93 for, 7 against), pension deficits have steadily grown in California. According to the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, as of the end of 2015, credible estimates of the total unfunded pension obligations owed by California’s state and other...
By John Moore
The Fall of Pacific Grove – The Immediate Future
The Fall of Pacific Grove – The Immediate Future
The Final Chapter, Part 4 of 4 The facts and law indicate that the lawyers defending the city in the POA pension reform law suit, directed by the city attorney, and supported by a city council majority, consciously and intentionally failed to uphold two legal ordinances which could have prevented the financial “Fall of Pacific...
By John Moore
The Fall of Pacific Grove – The Judge's Ruling
The Fall of Pacific Grove – The Judge's Ruling
The Final Chapter, Part 3 of 4 The parties to the law suit made final oral arguments, and on June 18, 2013, Judge Wills issued his Statement of Decision, setting forth his conclusions and the legal reasoning that led to his conclusions. First, he found that because the charter stated that the city council was...
By John Moore
The Fall of Pacific Grove – The City's Tepid Defense of the Vested Rights Lawsuit
The Fall of Pacific Grove – The City's Tepid Defense of the Vested Rights Lawsuit
The Final Chapter, Part 2 of 4 In June of 2010, the City of Pacific Grove (City) received an initiative petition from a citizen’s group containing the requisite number of signatures. Thereafter the city adopted the petition as an ordinance. The ordinance limited the city’s obligation to pay for employee pensions for work not yet...
By John Moore
The Fall of Pacific Grove – A Primer on Vested Rights
The Fall of Pacific Grove – A Primer on Vested Rights
The Final Chapter, Part 1 of 4 Editor’s Note: In early 2014 we published a eight part series, “The Fall of Pacific Grove,” written by retired attorney and Pacific Grove resident John Moore. It describes in detail how this small coastal city slid inexorably towards insolvency by yielding, again and again, year after year, to pressure...
By John Moore
Judge Quashes Pension Reform Initiative in Pacific Grove
Judge Quashes Pension Reform Initiative in Pacific Grove
Monterey County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wills ruled on June 26th that the 2002 ordinance enhancing public-safety pensions was legally enacted, and therefore could not be voted on by the citizens of Pacific Grove. To put the decision in perspective, Judge Wills encouraged the citizens to Appeal his decision. His decision was based on his opinion...
By John Moore
Comparing Pension Reform in Pacific Grove vs. Bakersfield
Comparing Pension Reform in Pacific Grove vs. Bakersfield
Editor’s note: Several times this year we have published in-depth investigative reports written by John Moore, a citizen activist living in Pacific Grove. This recent letter from Moore was addressed to the local newspapers serving Pacific Grove. Moore is unhappy with the coverage these newspapers have given the city of Pacific Grove’s pension crisis. The...
By John Moore
San Jose Court's Flawed Decision Strikes Down Heart of Measure B Pension Reform
San Jose Court's Flawed Decision Strikes Down Heart of Measure B Pension Reform
In November of 2013, the San Jose voters approved a Charter Amendment that made measured changes and reductions in the cost of the City pension plan. The changes did in fact require greater contributions by the employees and reduced the value of the existing plan to current employees. The employee unions and others sued the...
By John Moore
Pacific Grove Reformer Alleges Pension Increases Passed Without Due Process
Pacific Grove Reformer Alleges Pension Increases Passed Without Due Process
Editor’s Note: Pacific Grove may be one of the smallest cities in California, but it is on the front lines of the battle for pension reform. Facing financially devastating annual billings from CalPERS, citizen activists are uncovering evidence that the pension benefit enhancements passed by Pacific Grove’s city council may not have complied with the...
By John Moore
All Government Employees and Retirees are Not Equal
All Government Employees and Retirees are Not Equal
Overlooked in the Pacific Grove government employee pension reform discussions is that employees and retirees are real people. In Rhode Island, many retirees who had been promised a modest $25,000-per-year retirement had that sum reduced to $10,000 per year. Their plight is tragic. The discussions in Pacific Grove lump employees and retirees together. The clerk...
By John Moore
Pension Reform: Be Clear About Defining the "California Rule"
Pension Reform: Be Clear About Defining the "California Rule"
I just read a recent commentary that described the following as the best definition of the California Rule that the writer had ever seen: “By entering public service an employee obtains a vested contractual right to earn a pension on terms substantially equivalent to those then offered to the employee.” In other words, one has...
By John Moore
The Fall of Pacific Grove – Conclusion: The "California Rule" Cannot Stand
The Fall of Pacific Grove – Conclusion: The "California Rule" Cannot Stand
In this series, relying on official records of CalPERS and the City of Pacific Grove, I have shown how those two agencies and the unions worked as one to destroy the ability of cities like Pacific Grove from providing minimal government services. But the Supreme Court of California is the great enabler and protector of...
By John Moore