Democratic lawmakers take cash, push pension spike
Four Democratic Orange County lawmakers and two from neighboring counties are at the center of a scandal that confirms the public's worst fears about how the state Legislature operates. Their behavior shows the degree to which lawmakers will pull out the stops to help sleazy but well-heeled special interests who provide them with campaign cash.
The issue centers on Santa Ana police union President Gerry Serrano, a controversial figure best known for often strong-arming the City Council. He is one of the city's toppaid employees who receives $500,000 a year in taxpayerfunded compensation to conduct union business rather than police work. Yet that's not nearly enough money to suit him.
Serrano enlisted the aid of state Treasurer Fiona Ma to write legislation to let him receive retirement credit for his political work and boost his annual pension by $60,000. The Santa Ana Police Officers' Association just happened to become one of Ma's top campaign contributors. Her effort failed, but she wasn't the only California politician involved.
Now we learn from the Anaheim Investigator that Sens. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, Josh Newman, D-Fullerton, Bob Archuleta, D-Pico Rivera, and Assembly members Tom Daly, D-Anaheim, Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton and Freddie Rodriguez, DPomona, wrote letters to the California Public Employees' Retirement System advocating Serrano's case (although not mentioning him by name).
Go figure, but over seven months “the Santa Ana Police Officers Association funneled a combined total of $24,100 into the campaign coffers of at least five of the six state legislators who signed the letters,” according to the news report, which linked to independent expenditure filings with the city.
At least the lawmakers got something in exchange for degrading themselves this way. Fortunately, CalPERS's administrative law judge Adam Berg rejected Serrano's claim and gave a hilarious backhanded slap at the lawmakers' “inadmissible opinions” in letters that “were not considered.”
Ironically, Umberg brags on his website that he is “committed to ensuring that every Californian has equal access to both our democratic process and our court system.” It's just that some Californians are more equal than others.