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By BRETT WILKISON
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Officials with Sonoma County’s pension fund said Monday they will take at least two weeks before reacting to a new court ruling ordering them to release pension figures for thousands of county retirees.
A state appellate court last week said that the Sonoma County Employees’ Retirement Association must release the records to comply with open government laws.
The ruling upheld a 2010 order by a Sonoma County judge.
But the earliest that the pension association’s governing board will discuss the ruling is Sept. 15 at its next scheduled meeting, said Gary Bei, SCERA’s administrator.
Whether the board will accept the recent ruling and release the records or take another course, including an appeal to the state Supreme Court, won’t be decided until then, he said.
“The retirement board sets policy in this area. They need to review this decision and set the appropriate course of action,” Bei said.
He would not discuss what options or recommendations he or SCERA’s attorneys would present to the board.
“We go through a comprehensive process,” Bei said. He declined to comment further about the appellate court ruling. Board chairman Jerry Allen could not be reached for comment.
SCERA has contended that a 1937 state law governing county government retirement systems prevented the release of the pension data.
“Obviously the judges think otherwise,” said county Supervisor David Rabbitt, who joined the retirement board at the beginning of this year.
The Press Democrat, which first sought access to the data in public records requests, sued SCERA in October, contending taxpayers were entitled to know how public money was being spent.
The county retirement system appealed a November ruling by Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Mark Tansil that ordered the association to release the pension data.
Rabbitt said he would wait to hear the advice of the pension fund’s attorneys next month before taking a stance on the group’s next move.
Speaking as a supervisor, however, he said he had “no problem with releasing the information.”
“There’s a pretty large proportion of the pension system that is publicly funded,” he said. “I don’t think it (pension information) should be something that is withheld.”
A three-member panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal reached the same conclusion on the Sonoma County case, citing more than 50 years of rulings by the state Supreme Court, lower courts and opinions from state Attorneys General that public employee pay and pension records are public information.
“[T]he public’s interest in knowing the names and pension amounts of SCERA retirees and beneficiaries is substantial, and SCERA has failed to demonstrate such interest is clearly outweighed by the members’ privacy interests,” Judge Sandra Marguiles wrote in the panel’s 24-page opinion released Monday.
The ruling follows two similar decisions by state appellate courts in Sacramento and San Diego, plus at least four other lower court rulings in California requiring public access to government pension records.
The latest ruling amounts to a “third strike” on the issue, said Tom Burke, an attorney for The Press Democrat.
“I think this whole (pension records) access battle statewide is now over,” he said.
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The public gets to see who gets paid with public money. Private money is private. It is certainly the public’s business where the public’s money goes.
“Rush to judgment?” Over a year of delay for what the public clearly has a right to is not a rush. It is how long it takes to force a corrupt agency to comply with a law it does not want to comply with.
When you draw conclusions before the data is released, aren’t you biased to begin with?
Since I pay all your salaries, do I get to review your sources of income?
Are you going to look at the assets of the pension system? I keep hearing it’s “underfunded,” but I haven’t seen the numbers or assumptions backing that up.
After all, some retirees are going to die.
Why the rush to judgement?
The “urgency” is that this corrupt agency has been dragging its feet for over a year. A few years ago the voters passed an amendment to the state constitution that expanded the public’s right of access to public documents. Democracy is urgent. Democracy is supposedly what we fight wars for. It’s time for the truth to finally come out.
THROW THEM IN JAIL!
I do not see the urgency here. How quickly do we need to know how much a particular retiree is getting in his pension? The Board is obviously opposed to releasing this information so it should be expected that they will not release it at least until they weigh their options for appeal. Also, if the Board is the entity that is ordered by the Court to release the information, then the Board cannot take any action whatever until they meet. Give them a chance to gather and talk about this development.
Moreover, I do not see why this information is important in the first place. The salary of a working public employee is certainly the public’s business; how much is going toward an employee’s retirement while he is working is also the public’s business; but once the benefit is coming out after retirement, after they have worked their long careers, I do not see where it is in the public interest to be able to throw tomatoes at particular retirees just for cashing retirement checks they obtained lawfully and openly. If there was a time to throw tomatoes, it would have been (and should have been) at the public meetings where the salaries and retirement deals were being forged in the first place. Where was all this indignant outrage then? At this point, I believe the newspapers are just stirring up emotions as they try to enforce those ridiculous principles from the 1990’s popular belief system: “I want it, therefore I am entitled to it” or “I am curious, therefore I have a right to know.” Preposterous.
I know the Courts are tilted the other way and so this information will likely be released eventually and probably soon. When it is, I hope the gathering lynch mobs will pay attention to the differences in the pensions for retired management and the pensions of retired rank & file. The highest pensions will be for retired management and it will be unfair to public employees generally to spread the belief that all retirees receive pensions on that order. The average CalPERS pensioner receives barely $2,200 a month (CalPERS Newsletter, Fall 2011) and when released, the County pensions will likely be similar. Are these really the lavish pensions the Republicans have their knickers in a knot over?
Dan: Section 916 of the Code of Civil Procedure stays execution of a trial court judgment other than a money judgment when an appeal is perfected. (There are myriad exceptions following section 916.) This is an appellate court judgment. Therefore section 916 is inapplicable.
The only recourse remaining is to petition to the California Supreme Court for a writ of review. More than 90% of these petitions are denied. This petition, if one is filed, will almost certainly be denied because, as the PD’s attorney points out, the law is settled. In any case, there is no stay of execution pending review by the California Supreme Court unless one is ordered.
There is I believe a 60 day period from the time the court makes its order during which one party or the other can file their appeal. The order isn’t final yet. Keep your britches on everyone.
This could get ugly!
I can just see all the cockroaches scurrying from the judicial light as I write this.
The pension data releases will soon be a requirement without exception. Even the accounting methods are being changed for government with regard to their UN-funded pension liabilities.
UN-funded = billions of dollars of unacknowledged debt that government has quietly ignored.
In the meantime, the Sonoma County pension people refuse to release the information. Nobody should be surprised by that corrupt arrogance.
Is the County Board of Sups trying to bury all of the bodies before the body count is reported?
The County pension plan has always been a shell game with the Board controlling the numbers and the game. It will be embarrassing when the numbers are released and the blame game will start.
The Board needs to look no further than their mirror to see the responsible party. What will they do about the new debt numbers? Punt.
How dare they withhold records while deciding whether to obey a court order? This organization that represents public employees reflect the arrogance of its constituents. They all deserve our wrath. They should be thrown in jail.