Richard Riordan Called D.A. Steve Cooley To Demand Investigation Of SEIU Petition Tactics

By Gene Maddaus Wed., Nov. 21 2012 at 12:08 PM

Steve Cooley

Former mayor Richard Riordan was so upset about SEIU's efforts to thwart his pension initiative that he personally called up D.A. Steve Cooley to seek an investigation.

Riordan was angry about an email from Paul Kim, an SEIU employee, telling workers that "We need union members hitting the streets signing Riordan's petition with fake names / addresses."

Riordan's attorney, Ashlee Titus, sent the D.A. a letter on Tuesday asking for an investigation of Election Code violations. But Riordan also got on the phone to plead directly with Cooley.

Cooley told the former mayor to put his concerns in writing, and said he would forward it to the D.A.'s Public Integrity Division, said Sandi Gibbons, the D.A's spokeswoman. As of this morning, no investigation or inquiry has been opened, Gibbons said.

Dave Demerjian, the head of the Public Integrity Division, said he had not received the complaint.

Riordan must gather about 250,000 valid signatures by Dec. 7 in order to put his pension reform initiative on the May ballot. The initiative would require city workers to contribute substantially more toward their pensions, and convert all new city workers -- including police, fire and DWP workers -- to 401(k) plans.

City unions, including SEIU Local 721, have mobilized in an effort to prevent Riordan from gathering enough signatures. Their efforts include standing at Riordan's tables outside supermarkets and attempting to dissuade shoppers from signing the petition, as well as asking people to sign petitions withdrawing their signatures.

An SEIU spokesman said that Kim had been disciplined for suggesting that workers sign fake names on the Riordan petition.

"SEIU 721 in no way recommends that its members or anyone else falsify signatures on any petition," spokesman Ian Thompson said in a statement. "We are firmly against that kind of behavior. The email in question was sent without the knowledge of the union's leadership."

Asked about the criminal inquiry, Thompson said, "We think it's over and done with. It's a non-issue."

Riordan gave $1,000 to Cooley's officeholder account in 2011, and another $6,500 to Cooley's 2010 campaign for attorney general.

"They've admitted to tinkering with the democratic process," said Riordan's spokesman, John Schwada. "As I understand it, they agreed to investigate it."

Tags:

D.A., Ian Thompson, pensions, Richard Riordan, SEIU Local 721, Steve Cooley

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abramsrl

Riordan's proposal is to privatize social security. People do not recognize city pensions as social security because they are through the local government and not the Feds. From an economic stand point, any pension which is guaranteed by local, state or federal government is social security. SEIU has a significant task educating the public and any of its members urging criminal behavior are simply criminals and should be shunned by SEIU.

The entire nation is harmed by privatized social security. One of the most important functions of any social security program, be it local, state or federal, is that the pension payments continue when there is a recession or depression. That helps not only the pensioners but also helps everyone else. When pensioners can continue paying rent, car insurance, food, law care, helping their kids' families e.g. college tuition, making repairs to their homes, buying a new car, etc., they keep the economy afloat

A 401k is likely to go BK when the recession hits -- if it lasts until the recession hits. Thus, the pensioners have no funds and the entire economy is dragged under. Then, pensioners turn to their children for financial aid rather than giving financial help. They lose their homes and they do not buy new cars; they stop spending and the entire economy nose dives. The best way to set up an economic system that will plunge us all into a Grand Depression is to privatize social security.

The other problem with 401k's is that billions in Wall Street "transaction" fees which mean the pensions, if they survive, are much smaller. when you pay 20% to 30% in need less fees, then you have 20% to 30% less money going into your pension fund. Then the pension funds are subject to the Bernie Madoff and ERISA scams. Everyone knows Bernie Madoff, but his theft of private retirement money was miniscule compared to the hundreds of billions which companies like Bain Capital stole under ERISA. [I did ERISA law for years and long story short, ERISA is the federal law that allows corporate predators to steal your private pension and leave you to die an early death.]

The advantage of a social security type pension through a government is that if the city should steal your pensions funds, the city still has to pay the pensions. Billionaires like Riordan, who destroy a viable civil service system and turn L.A. City Hall into a Temple of Crimogenics, never want to take responsibility for the disasters they have created. Instead they want to to scapegoat the employees who expected the city to be making the pension contributions rather than diverting billions of dollars to the corrupt billionaires through the CRA and various loan guarantees and tax abatements.

If Angelenos think LA is slipping towards a third world country, think how much faster that slide will become when we cannot attract decent employees, firemen, and police. The best and smartest will avoid any city which provides no real pension.

VenturaCapitalist

This is California's working families against the privileged public parasites. Time for you to start paying your fair share, punks.

zombiechild28

1 Like

@VenturaCapitalist you are saying Quarter-billionaire Riordan and Billionaire Broad stand for the 99%? Bah! Parasites? uh, would you rather have slaves clean your fracking sewers? How about indentured servants? We ARE already paying our fair share, and did you know that "punk" is a homophobic term. So, should I call you HomophobicVenturaCapitalist? This City worker works hard for my money, I pay 11% of my salary to retirement & I don't get social security. Eli Broad owns artwork worth more than I will make in my lifetime! Long live capitalism!