A San Diego Superior Court judge has ordered pension officials to release public records on high-earning retired county employees - information originally denied to a taxpayer watchdog group.
Retired Sheriff Bill Kolender favors release of pension data: "It seems to me it should be the knowledge of the public. I mean, it's not a scam or something."
The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, with offices in Sacramento and Los Angeles, petitioned the Superior Court on behalf of Marcia Fritz and the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility for a list of retired workers who receive $100,000-plus a year in gross pension benefits.
Superior Court Judge Timothy Taylor on Tuesday ruled in favor of the taxpayers association by requiring the San Diego County Employees Retirement Association to release the retirees' names, where they worked, benefit amounts and the written benefit summaries to the fiscal-responsibility group.
Taylor found that the evidence "fails to establish that the retirees' privacy rights clearly outweigh CFFR's interest in receiving the information," he said.
The ruling prohibits the group from publishing the pensioners' last names online but doesn't limit the release of those names and personal information through other channels.
In response, the county retirement board on Thursday voted unanimously to appeal the judge's ruling.
Brian White, the pension system CEO, said releasing the records would violate the privacy of the pensioners, a position he's maintained since The San Diego Union-Tribune's Watchdog team was denied the same information in April.
"Although we are pleased that the court recognized retired public employees have some expectation of privacy, the ruling does not sufficiently safeguard individuals' privacy and leaves them vulnerable to identity theft, home invasion and other fraud," White said in a statement to the media.
Jon Coupal, who leads the taxpayers association, said "they just don't want to let taxpayers know how much taxpayers' money is being spent on these pensions."
Douglas Rose, the chairman of SDCERA, said the pension board is willing to disclose the pension amounts but not the names of the pensioners because there's "no compelling need" to include that.
Earlier this year, The Watchdog asked for standard data on pensioners, including names, birth dates, positions held and periods of service.
The taxpayers group won similar cases in Orange, Contra Costa and Stanislaus counties, "yet agencies continue to drag their feet" on the release of such records, Coupal said.
Coupal said it's become clear that "the weight of legal authority is clearly on the side of disclosure."
If the taxpayer group ultimately receives the records it requested, its plans to analyze how the pensions are calculated to ensure they were done correctly.
Bill Kolender, retired San Diego County sheriff, doesn't seen an issue in releasing the bulk information.
"I'm trying to figure out why not," Kolender said. "It seems to me it should be the knowledge of the public. I mean, it's not a scam or something."
