PensionTsunami.com is a project of FACT -- the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers. FACT's primary focus is on California's public employee pension and OPEB crisis, but we also monitor the world of corporate pensions and any developments in Social Security since it is taxpayers who will ultimately be responsible for making up deficits incurred by any of them. We also try to monitor international trends.
FACT's president is Jack Dean, who also edits PensionTsunami.com.
Watch Marcia Fritz, vice president of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, explain why the state faces a growing financial problem due to lavish public employee pensions during her appearance today on Stuart Varney’s show on the Fox Business Network.
Keith Richman and the work of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility were profiled in the Wall Street Journal, Marcia Fritz appeared on not just one but two Fox TV shows, and the Los Angeles Times carried an article about Ventura County considering a ballot initiative that would require voter approval to increase pensions or benefits (similar to Orange County’s successful Measure J).
It doesn’t get any better!
Jack Dean, editor and publisher of PensionTsunami.com, will be a guest this afternoon at 3:30 pm on The Andy Caldwell Show on KUHL-AM in Santa Maria, California. Andy and Jack will talk about how the pension crisis is effecting city, county and the state’s budgets.
You can listen online.
Kris Hunt, Executive Director of the Contra Costa County Taxpayers Association, did a great job on Channel 5 in San Francisco this evening in a news report on California’s huge public employee pension and health care costs. The segment was titled “State Worker Obligations Dwarf California Deficit” and it can be viewed online. The report also aired on the CBS affiliate in Los Angeles — Channel 9.
Under the Freedom of Information Act the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility (CFFR) has obtained and posted “The CalSTRS $100,000 Pension Club” — a list of more than 3,000 retired educators who are receiving pensions of $100,000 or more per year. You can access the list in PDF here.
Marcia will be discussing the list on KABC Radio this morning on Doug McIntyre’s show at 7:30 am. You can listen online at the KABC website or you can skip the extra steps and go directly to the streaming audio player.
Jack Dean is president of the Fullerton Association of Concerned Taxpayers, editor of PensionTsunami.com, and a CFFR board member.
Californians for Pension Reform has launched a Facebook group and you are invited to join. With little promotion the group has already attracted over 300 members. Join today!
By Jack Dean
Marcia Fritz, vice president of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility, was a guest on KFI Radio in Los Angeles last Friday on the John and Ken Show discussing “The CalPERS $100,000 Pension Club” searchable database.
The archived show is now available online or you can play or download the MP3 podcast version.
By Jack Dean
Today the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility (CFFR) has put online a list of nearly 5,000 retired government workers who are collecting annual pensions of $100,000 or more from the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS).
The database of 4,818 names has been made available in a searchable format. Dubbed “The CalPERS $100,000 Pension Club,” its opening page features the Top 10 pensioners. A retiree from Vernon heads the list with an annual pension of $499,674.
“We feel it’s time for transparency on this issue,” says Marcia Fritz, vice president of CFFR. “In the current economic climate, it’s important that taxpayers know what kind of pensions our public employees are receiving and what the budget implications will be.”
CFFR was founded in 2007 by Keith Richman, a former 38th District Assemblyman. Richman says the foundation’s sole purpose is to tackle the skyrocketing costs of public employee retirements.
“If we don’t do something soon there may be several government entities that go bankrupt, and those that don’t are going to die from a thousand cuts in services,” says Richman. “And because of the strength of the public employee unions as a special interest group in California, I don’t have any confidence at all that Sacramento will address this issue.”
The list was obtained from CalPERS under the Freedom of Information Act.
CFFR is a non-profit political organization committed to educating the public and key decision makers about California public employee retirement benefit issues and developing fiscally responsible solutions that are fair to employees, employers and taxpayers. CFFR believes managing the pension and retiree health care obligations promised to public employees is the most critical public finance issue of this decade.
Jack Dean is publisher of PensionTsunami.com and president of FACT. He is also a member of the board of directors of CFFR.
As we’ve previously reported, the nation’s state and local pension funds collectively may be underfunded by more than a trillion dollars. On Wednesday, CNBC aired this short piece (1:57) providing an overview of the situation and insights on how they may try to make up this shortfall.
Video of the recent forum on public pensions sponsored by the San Diego County Taxpayers Association is now available (see below). It was held March 3 at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, and panelists included: April Boling, CPA, chair of the City of San Diego 2003/04 Pension Reform Committee; Carl DeMaio, City of San Diego councilmember; Marcia Fritz, CPA, vice president of the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility; and Michael Zucchet of the Municipal Employees Association. Moderator was Scott Lewis of the VoiceOfSanDiego.org.
The video can also be found on the organization’s website.
