Shipionne takes witness stand in pension board hearing

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 28, 2005 at 9:00 PM PST

This story was published more than 19 years ago.

Whistleblower Diann Shipionne took the witness stand Monday in the first day of hearings into alleged felony conflict of interest on the San Diego city pension board. KPBS reporter Alison St John has

Whistleblower Diann Shipionne took the witness stand Monday in the first day of hearings into alleged felony conflict of interest on the San Diego city pension board. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

Shipione was the trustee who blew the whistle on the pension board's agreement in 2002 to let the city continue under funding its pension plan while raising benefits. Shipionne said it was openly acknowledged at pension board meetings in 2002 that the benefit increases would only be given if the trustees agreed to the city's under funding proposal.

Shippione: "To link a benefit increase to the board modifying its funding policy in a detrimental fashion appeared to be corrupting the process of the normal way a pension board is supposed to function."

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Six former pension board members are indicted. Their lawyers argued the city attorney and others had examined the conflict of interest question as early as 1995, and advised trustees they were not violating state law, because city pensions are a form of deferred salary and thus exempt. Alison St John, KPBS news.

Alison St John

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Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.