GUEST COMMENTARY-Why should former Councilman Richard Alarcon collect his full pension when he was illegally holding office?
Someone who is illegally holding office or using the office to line his pockets isn't a legitimate employee.
Former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon was found guilty last week of perjury and voter fraud for lying about living in his district. But even though the jury concluded that he wasn't actually eligible to serve as councilman during the time he was living elsewhere, Alarcon will still collect his full $116,000 annual pension. It's time for Los Angeles to follow the state's lead and adopt a law to ensure that public employees who abuse their positions lose the pension benefits accrued during the time they committed their crimes.
City Councilman Mitch Englander has proposed an ordinance under which city employees convicted of work-related felonies would forfeit their entire pensions. He introduced his motion after The Times reported that a building inspector who pleaded guilty to taking bribes would still receive his $72,000 annual pension. Englander argues that the possibility of losing such a valuable asset would deter bad behavior by public employees. He's right. Stripping a city employee of his full pension benefits could be a good deterrent. But it wouldn't be fair.
Take Alarcon, for example. Why should his terrible decision to disregard the residency laws at the end of his political career cause him to lose all his pension benefits from two decades of legitimate city service?
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CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 61
Pub: Jul 29, 2014
