Council Member Pollock Awaits CalPERS Vote Outcome

City Council member David Pollock may be a glutton for punishment.  Having just come off a Council re-election campaign in November, the long-time public servant recently mounted a run to serve on the California Public Employees Retirement System, or CalPERS, board.

Pollock also works with the California School Boards Association.

CalPERS provides retirement and health benefits to public employees and retirees. It currently serves more than 1.6 million people and more than 3,000 employers. Its board oversees the administration and investment of retirement fund assets, as well as membership and benefit issues.

Though voting has closed, having run April 21 through May 20, an unofficial announcement won’t come until early next month and official results, certified by the Secretary of State, will be posted in late August 2011, according to the CalPERS website.

Pollock said he was moved to run for the board for much the same reason he was motivated to run for the school board, before he became a member of the City Council: he didn’t like what he was reading in the newspapers. The Los Angeles Times, which has written about pay-to-play incidences and insider dealings in the past, for example, reported Tuesday that the California Fair Political Practices Commission "has opened an investigation into gifts to state pension officials from private equity fund managers."

Pollock acknowledges that “CalPERS has been rocked by recent scandals involving former board members and officers.”

“This not only threatens the retirement security of more than a million people, it sours public opinion about pensions in general,” he said.

He hopes to turn things around with the board and help with the public perception.

“My experience on numerous boards has taught me that a single person asking the right questions can have a very positive impact,” said Pollock. “I intend on being that voice.”

The scandals come at a time when citizens are scrutinizing public unions’ benefits and are debating their abilities to negotiate benefits in states across the nation.

At a candidate’s forum in April, Pollock made it clear where he stands on public service benefits.

“I’m a staunch defender of defined benefits programs for public service employees, especially for public safety officers who have to make a decision when they start their careers, ‘Is this worth strapping on a Kevlar vest for every day,’ ” he said. “I think it makes sense to have generous pensions benefits for someone who puts their lives on the line everyday for public safety.”

He views benefits as helpful—and cost effective—bargainings tool for public employers.

“As a city council member, I would not want defined benefit programs taken off the table because they’re a valuable component of what we offer, and what the public needs to understand is that if defined benefits programs were to go away tomorrow, that doesn’t mean savings for taxpayers,” he said at the forum. “It means we would have to compensate in other ways—and probably more expensive ways.”

Pollock said if elected to the CalPERS board, his current roles serving the public will remain unaffected.

“My city council seat and my work for the California School Boards Association will not be impacted,” he said. “The CalPERS board is an unpaid position. Only my travel expenses and any direct and actual costs to my employer, CSBA, will be paid by CalPERS.”

He also noted CalPERS board meetings end in the early afternoon the third Wednesday of each month, so he will have time to make it to Moorpark City Council meetings those evenings.

Running against Pollock are Michael Bilbrey, Leslie Campbell, Tom Johnson, Mischa Lorraine, David Miller, Richard Ross and Donna Snodgrass. If no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election, which Pollock believes is likely, will take place at the end of June.