Former pension board members charged with conflict of interest

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published May 2, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A Superior Court Judge arraigned six former San Diego pension board members Wednesday and charged them with conflict of interest. The defendants are accused of voting to allow the city to under-fundin

A Superior Court Judge arraigned six former San Diego pension board members Wednesday and charged them with conflict of interest. The defendants are accused of voting to allow the city to under-funding the pension plan in 2002, while increasing pension benefits. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The suit, which was filed by the district attorney one year ago, is at the heart of the legal battle over who's to blame for the city of San Diego's massive pension deficit.

Judge Frederick Link says he's tired of all the delays and it's time to get the ball rolling on this case. He's overruled defense attorney arguments that there's not enough evidence to prove a crime was committed, and he's ready to go to trial
However attorney Jerry Couchlan says the defense now has a chance to get a second opinion from a different Judge..

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Couchlan: "We're hoping first that the trial judge who hears it will dismiss all the charges based on this evidence and then we're hoping that the court of appeal will affirm that ruling."

If the defense is unsuccessful Judge Link will open the trial in mid November. If found guilty, the defendants face up to three years in prison. 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.