[Editor’s Note: One month and 11 days after its introduction, the Los Angeles Times reported this morning former Mayor Riordan’s dramatic alternative pension plan is dead.]
Former Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan's push for a May ballot measure to cut pension benefits of city employees abruptly collapsed today, with a spokesman saying Riordan had suspended signature-gathering efforts.
Riordan's “Save Los Angeles” campaign had hoped to gather 300,000 signatures by Dec. 28 for a measure that would cut the pension benefits of existing employees and require new city workers to rely on a 401(k)-style retirement plan.
According to a statement from spokesman John Schwada, “Riordan recently concluded that the Dec. 28 deadline cannot be met.”
The statement said Riordan would explore other options “to accomplish the goal of pension reform.”
“I ask the mayor, the City Council and union heads to work with me over the next several months to save the city from bankruptcy and drastic cuts to public services,” Riordan said.
The ballot measure proposal drew wide criticism from city employee unions, including the Police Protective League, which in recent weeks has sent out email blasts attacking Riordan. Other city employee unions staged a vigil outside of Mayor Villaraigosa's house in protest of the proposed ballot measure.
Unions Are Jubilant
Representatives of city labor unions on Monday hailed the announcement, calling it an expensive and poorly thought out proposal.
Tyler Izen, president of the Police Protective League, said he was not surprised. Izen said the pension proposal never received the proper financial analysis in the weeks before Riordan began his push.
“The plan proposed by Riordan to close the defined benefit pension system as a way of saving money was both simplistic and costly … for the taxpayers,” Izen said in a statement.
Service Employees International Union Local 721, which represents civilian city workers, released a statement from sanitation worker Simboa Wright, who said Riordan and his allies had failed because L.A. voters value the work of city employees.
“City residents weren’t about to let a bunch of billionaires rewrite city policies,” Wright said. “As city workers have been saying for a long time, Riordan’s half-baked plan wasn’t thought out. It died because it was bad for city workers and the city they serve.” The measure sought to roll back benefits for existing workers and put new employees into a 401(k)-style retirement plan.
This morning's announcement removes a major wedge issue from the upcoming mayoral campaign. Three of the four mayoral candidates – City Controller Wendy Greuel, Councilman Eric Garcetti and Councilwoman Jan Perry — had criticized Riordan's measure, saying they feared key provisions would cost the city money or fail to stand up in court.
Former prosecutor Kevin James, another mayoral candidate, had thrown his support behind the measure. Riordan advisers had disputed claims from the unions, saying the pension ballot plan would save more money for taxpayers than any of the measures to cut retirement costs that have been approved by L.A. leaders so far.
