santos and gray win key pension posts

Last month, SEIU 721 scored a major ballot box victory — electing candidates to two powerful pension boards that, while largely unknown to the general public, are vitally important to the retirement security of 721 members.

SEIU 721-endorsed candidate Herman Santos was re-elected to the LACERA Board of Retirement, while SEIU 721 endorsee Vivian Gray was elected the LACERA Board of Investments.

Both are highly qualified and both have enormous responsibilities. The $40 billion Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association is responsible for the retirement benefits of nearly 160,000 active and retired Los Angeles County public employees.

A small group of super-rich CEOs and investors has declared war on public employees’ retirement security nationwide, and California is the frontline. In just the last few years, SEIU 721 and its allies have defeated efforts to slash pensions and retiree medical benefits in Los Angeles and Ventura County funded by businessman and former Mayor Dick Riordan and billionaire former Enron Executive John Arnold. Our sister local, SEIU 1021, defeated two attempts to cut San Francisco workers’ pensions funded by billionaire tech investor Mike Moritz. Workers in

San Jose took former Mayor Chuck Reed to court to block implementation of his effort to slash public workers’ benefits. A group funded by many of these same rich investors is working to put a measure on the 2016 state ballot to weaken the state law that safeguards the retirement benefits of all public employees working in California.

That’s why it’s vital we elect the best and brightest to safeguard our public retirement systems. Antigovernment groups are working overtime to undermine public confidence in public pensions. Some of the same investors who helped wreck the economy in 2007 and 2008 want voters to believe pensions and medical benefits for retirees are too expensive and unsustainable when, in fact, it was their own reckless greed that cratered state and local government budgets.

Santos, an LA County public defender, has served on the LACERA Board for 3 terms. LA County Alternate Public Defender Vivian Gray will serve her first term on the board. Both will begin their terms on January 1, 2016.

Bob Schoonover, President