Fire the San Diego City Pension Board

Former union boss get $700,000 for lost pension

So says the headline in today's U-T. In another example of handing out illegal benefits to senior union officials, the IRS ruled that the city of San Diego's award of a pension to Judie Italiano, former head of the city's white collar labor union was illegal since she wasn't actually an employee of the City. (She also previously was involved in a scandal involving union credit cards at casinos.) She argued that since the pension was promised, she should get it anyway, illegality be damned. Judge Joel Pressman also agreed that the city owed her nothing, but

The pension board unanimously approved the deal in closed session Oct. 1 — 45 days before the judge ruled against Italiano.

Notice the familiar pattern, closed door deals that favor senior union leaders. Here's what the judge had to say about the settlement:

“This court does not see this as a good faith settlement,” he wrote in a tentative ruling. “It is a settlement crafted to give judicial cover to an agreement based on prior illegal acts. This court is not inclined to grant that cover. If the parties choose, the settlement can go forward but without this court’s good faith determination.”

Even the City Attorney disagrees with the settlement. Take a look at the members of the board, 6 of 12 members are former government employees. The others have financial industry backgrounds. Who speaks for the taxpayer? I don't even know to whom to complain, it seems that the City Council doesn't have any control over this either.

Lorie Zapf, what are you going to do?