Six former pensions trustees to stand trial

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published August 2, 2006 at 9:00 PM PDT

This story was published more than 18 years ago.

A state Superior Court Judge has ruled there is sufficient evidence to take six former San Diego pension board members to trial on conflict of interest charges. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

The tentative ruling means the former pension board members will go on trial in November. The accused are Ron Saatoff, Cathy Lexin, John Torres, Terry Webster, Mary Vattimo and Sharon Wilkinson.

The six are accused by the District Attorney of conflict of interest, because they allegedly allowed the city to underfund the pension plan in return for pension increases they benefited from personally.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Their attorneys tried to appeal a decision by Judge Frederick Link, who ruled the case should go ahead, but their appeal was rejected.

The judge wrote that it didn't matter what the defendants decided in the case. He says the very fact that they considered lowering the so- called trigger clause in the employer's contract, when they had a personal financial interest, is enough evidence to warrant a trial.

The case is at the heart of who is to blame for a massive increase in the city's pension deficit, which now stands at well over $1.4 billion. Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

twitter

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.