The Fall of Pacific Grove – The Immediate Future

By John Moore
11/10/2015
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...

TAGS: "California Rule", challenges to the "California Rule", John Moore, Pacific Grove and CalPERS, Pacific Grove city council, Pacific Grove financial stress, Pacific Grove insolvency, Pacific Grove pension reform, pension contribution increases, The Fall of Pacific Grove, vested pension rights

The Fall of Pacific Grove – The Judge's Ruling

By John Moore
11/03/2015
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...

TAGS: "California Rule", challenges to the "California Rule", John Moore, Pacific Grove and CalPERS, Pacific Grove city council, Pacific Grove financial stress, Pacific Grove insolvency, Pacific Grove pension reform, pension contribution increases, The Fall of Pacific Grove, vested pension rights

The Fall of Pacific Grove – The City's Tepid Defense of the Vested Rights Lawsuit

By John Moore
10/27/2015
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...

TAGS: "California Rule", challenges to the "California Rule", John Moore, Pacific Grove and CalPERS, Pacific Grove city council, Pacific Grove financial stress, Pacific Grove insolvency, Pacific Grove pension reform, pension contribution increases, The Fall of Pacific Grove, vested pension rights

The Fall of Pacific Grove – A Primer on Vested Rights

By John Moore
10/20/2015
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...

TAGS: "California Rule", challenges to the "California Rule", John Moore, Pacific Grove and CalPERS, Pacific Grove city council, Pacific Grove financial stress, Pacific Grove insolvency, Pacific Grove pension reform, pension contribution increases, The Fall of Pacific Grove, vested pension rights

The Fall of Pacific Grove – Conclusion: The "California Rule" Cannot Stand

By John Moore
02/25/2014
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...

TAGS: "California Rule", CalPERS, Pacific Grove insolvency, vested pension rights

How Public Employees Have Superior Rights and Entitlements

By Bill White
01/23/2014
America’s founders left us one of the most thoughtful documents ever written. The U.S. Constitution is the basis of our republic, not democracy, and what has allowed the United States to become the most prosperous nation ever. The freedoms and rights written down on that document are what makes America so prosperous. Within the 14th...

TAGS: vested pension rights