Aguirre releases incriminating audio tapes for pension case

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published June 19, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre released audio tapes Monday of key city pension board meetings in 1996 and 2002 . He hopes to use the evidence in a court appearance next week, to argue that city

San Diego city attorney Mike Aguirre released audio tapes Monday of key city pension board meetings in 1996 and 2002. He hopes to use the evidence in a court appearance next week, to argue that city pension benefit increases were illegally granted and should be rolled back. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The tapes reveal the pension board members were clearly informed in 2002 that they would have to accept the manager's proposal to under fund the plan, in order for benefit increases to go into effect.

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The following is from an audio tape of pension board administrator Larry Grissom. He tells the board that benefit increases have been agreed upon in labor negotiations but those increases depend on the board accepting the new funding plan.

Grissom: "The implementation of those -was made contingent upon this board's adopting the funding proposal."

Aguirre argues several of the board members stood to gain from the benefit increases tied to the under funding plan. The defendants say state law exempts them from conflict of interest in this case. 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.