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Protest backfires: State bigwigs will get early pay cut

November 20th, 2009, 12:15 pm by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

capitol-sactoHere’s a big one for the “Oops, that sure backfired!” file:

We told you yesterday that the California Legislature quietly tried to block an 18 percent cut to its pay and perks (even as the state budget was hemorrhaging) by raising questions about the legality of such cuts. Legislators appealed to the Attorney Generalfor an opinion on whether the citizens commission that ordered the cuts had the authority to do so - and the AG said yes, yes, most certainly yes!

Those cuts were originally to take effect in December 2010, at the start of a brand new term. But the AG said, essentially, “Why wait?” The cuts can legally take effect midstream in an elected’s term, in his opinion, and so they will - beginning next month. That will save the state some $2.8 million. (A very small drop in the $21 billion bucket, but every little bit helps. See chart of officials’ salaries below.)

“In hindsight, it might have been better to let sleeping dogs lie,” said Chuck Murray, chairman of the  California Citizens Compensation Commission, which ordered the cuts, to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Of course, this doesn’t mean the game is over. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: State government | 16 Comments »

$100,000-plus pension club in Mesa Consolidiated, Mission Viejo, Moulton Niguel

November 20th, 2009, 5:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

joy-of-not-workingSo we continue our trek through the CalPERS database of public retirees today with three more OC agencies - which have five retirees who get pensions greater than $100,000 a year.

These three are interesting exceptions to the emerging rules. In general, the most well-paid retirees have been public safety types - police and fire chiefs - and they have been men.

But two of today’s agencies are water districts - so no expensive benefits for public safety employees; and the other is a city that contracts with the Sheriff’s Department for police services, thus keeping high public safety pension expenses off its own books.

And two of the three most well-paid retirees at these agencies are women. The agencies are:

  • Mesa Consolidated Water District in Costa Mesa, which has two (the top dog being Diana Leach, former general manager, $145,393.56),
  • Mission Viejo, which has one (former planning diretor Clinton Sherrod, $107,241.12)
  • and the Moulton Niguel Water District, which as two (the top dog being former administrator Carol Sanders, $130,674.36).

This brings total membership in the local CalPERS $100,000-plus pension club to a round 200, from 15 different public agencies. We still have a dozen to go. See full lists, links to previous stories and standard disclaimer below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Big public pension club • Cities • Special districts • Water | 79 Comments »

State legislators fail to block their own pay cuts. Bummer.

November 19th, 2009, 12:50 pm by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

capitol-sactoBy Teri Sforza and Lindsey Ambrose

Pity the poor California senators and Assembly members! Not only are they presiding over a state that seems to be spiraling down the toilet – they’re going down (some) with the ship as well.

Just one day after the Legislative Analyst’s Office announced that California is staring a new $21 billion budget deficit in the face, legislators got the really bad news: Their pay and perks can, and apparently will, be sliced 18 percent to help deal with the shortfall. (That means a drop from $116,208 to $95,291 for legislators, and from $133,639 to $109,584 for legislative leaders.)

In May, a heavy-hearted citizens’ commission ordered up the cuts (despite the incredibly good job the Legislature is doing). Then, in September, the Legislature quietly asked the attorney general whether that citizens’ commission had the legal authority to order those cuts, and offered pages of legal arguments as to why it did not. (Some cynical types interpreted that as an attempt to dodge the bullet.)

Today, though, Attorney General Jerry Brown dashed those hopes. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: State government | 19 Comments »

U.S. to fired air marshal: You should have known better, kid

November 19th, 2009, 6:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

airplane(Vote: Should Robert MacLean get his job back?)

The inciting incident came during a bitter tussle between federal air marshals and management - when the government required air marshals to have buzz cuts and wear business suits and hustle past lines at airport security checkpoints. (This essentially screamed to would-be terrorists: AIR MARSHAL! AIM HERE! many air marshals felt.)

It was in the thick of such management-employee conflict that OC air marshal Robert MacLean appeared on NBC news in 2005, in his role as vice president of the air marshals’ professional organization (it’s not a union). That appearance, the agency soon concluded, required prior approval. It launched an investigation. And in the course of that investigation, it asked MacLean if he was a source for an NBC story a few years back, about how air marshals’ overnight missions were to be cancelled to save money on hotel bills (even in the midst of an unprecedented suicide hijacking alert).

It’s, er, a crime to lie to federal investigators.

MacLean was axed from his cop-in-the-sky job and has been fighting to get it back ever since. This big-picture context is part of the closing arguments that have been filed by the federal government (government-closing-arguments) and MacLean (maclean-closing-arguments), nicely summarizing each side’s stance. The judge is expected to make a decision in the coming weeks.

The government’s last word: MacLean’s 14 years of solid service as a Border Patrol agent and air marshal didn’t matter in the end. MacLean knew, or should have known, that information he disclosed to the media in 2003 was sensitive security information, and MacLean’s protestation that he did not know “is not believable,” the Homeland Security Administration says. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Federal government • Justice • Public safety | 26 Comments »

Vote! Should fired air marshal get his job back?

November 19th, 2009, 5:59 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

maclean(Read the latest here)

Robert MacLean of Ladera Ranch was axed from his cop-in-the-sky job after letting the world know about an ill-conceived plan to remove federal air marshals from long distance flights in 2003 - just days after a terrifying suicide hijacking alert. (This to save money on hotel bills.)

There was a huge outcry; the plan was scrapped; and missions went on as per usual. But MacLean was fired for disclosing “sensitive security information” (even though the message wasn’t marked as such, and went to his non-secure cell phone, rather than his secure PDA). Then he was denied whistleblower status. 

His appeal is now pending before a federal administrative law judge. What do you think?

Should Robert MacLean get back his job as a federal air marshal?
  • Add an Answer
View Results

Posted in: Federal government • Justice • Polls • Public safety | 12 Comments »

Shop online? You may have been ripped off

November 18th, 2009, 12:06 pm by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

shopSo you’re booking your flight, or ordering your movie tickets, or paying for your pizza online. It’s a mainstream web site. No worries.

You type in your credit card information, click the “purchase” button, and enjoy your flight/movie/pizza. But a few months later, mystery charges of $10 to $20 a month appear on your bank statement, for membership in a club you have no  memory of joining.

Surprise! You’ve been a victim of consumer fraud - thanks to that web site you trusted.

The practice is pervasive, and has cost unsuspecting consumers $1.4 billion, according to “Aggressive Sales Tactics on the Internet and Their Impact on American Consumers,” an investigative report released Tuesday by the  U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. (You can read the full report here: online-ripoffs; and can find supporting documents here.)

Companies named in the report - and apparently profiting on the scam - include 1-800-Flowers.com, Inc.; AirTran Holdings, Inc.; Classmates.com, Inc.; Continental Airlines, Inc.; FTD, Inc.; Fandango, Inc.; Hotwire, Inc.; Intelius, Inc.; MovieTickets.com, Inc.; Orbitz Worldwide, Inc.; Pizza Hut, Inc.; Priceline.com, Inc.; Redcats USA, Inc.; Shutterfly, Inc.; US Airways Group, Inc.; and VistaPrint USA, Inc. (But that’s not all of them; there are many, many, many more.)

How does the scam work? Consider the experience of Chris Steffen of Los Angeles, who bought movie tickets through Movietickets.com in April 2007. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Consumer stuff • Federal government | 11 Comments »

The $100,000-plus pension club in La Habra, Laguna Beach, Los Alamitos

November 17th, 2009, 11:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

retirementWe really don’t like to irritate so many of our readers. But we’ve been working our way through the CalPERS database of public retirees for weeks now, and it would be wrong to stop halfway through.

So, we pick up today with three of O.C.’s smaller cities, which have eight retirees who get pensions of more than $100,000 a year. They are:

  • La Habra, which has four (the top guy being former City Manager — and current county CEO – Thomas Mauk, at $120,265 a year, which brings his total annual haul to almost $500,000, our colleague Jennifer Muir recently discovered)
  • Laguna Beach, which has two (the top guy being former Police Chief  James Spreine, $125,647)
  • and Los Alamitos, which also has two (the top guy being former Police Chief Michael McCrary).

This brings total membership in O.C.’s $100,000-plus club to 195 (with a baker’s dozen more O.C. entities to go).

See full lists and links to previous stories below. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Big public pension club • Cities • County government | 341 Comments »

Fired air marshal can almost taste redemption

November 16th, 2009, 5:00 am by Teri Sforza, Register staff writer

macleanHe’s been warned that judges can be kindly Dr. Jekylls in the courtroom, and terrifying Mr. Hydes when they write their decisions in the quiet of their chambers.

He’s been warned that fired federal employees who fight their terminations get their jobs back less than 5 percent of the time.

But, dang it, for the first time in years, fired federal air marshal Robert MacLean of Ladera Ranch is feeling a little - dare we say it? - optimistic.

It’s not just that the judge who heard his appeal allowed testimony that the government tried to block. And it’s not just that the man who actually did the firing was finally there in the hot seat, admitting that MacLean was a tip-top employee until the single transgression that ruined his career. 

It’s that even if MacLean loses - again! - the truly final arbiters of whether he is hero or villain, of whether he endangered the flying public or helped protect it, are no longer Bush appointees. They are, instead, newly-installed, and far more whistleblower-friendly, Obama appointees. 

airplaneMacLean, you may recall, was axed from his cop-in-the-sky job after letting the world know about an ill-conceived plan to remove federal air marshals from long distance flights in 2003 - just days after a terrifying suicide hijacking alert. (This to save money on hotel bills.) There was a huge outcry; the plan was scrapped; and missions went on as per usual. But MacLean was fired for disclosing “sensitive security information” (even though the message wasn’t marked as such, and went to his non-secure cell phone, rather than his secure PDA). Then he was denied whistleblower status. 

“You folks have raised some interesting issues in this appeal,” Administrative Judge Franklin M. Kang said at the Nov. 5 proceeding - a dramatic “High Noon” face off between MacLean and the guy who fired him. Judge Kang ordered both sides to submit written closing arguments by today; his decision is expected within the next few weeks.

“It was a very compelling vindication for Robert emotionally,” said MacLean’s lawyer, Tom Devine. ”The only agency official who spoke for the DHS couldn’t defend the action to fire Robert, and after a while seemed to accept the facts of life, that they didn’t have any credible explanations for the action. Robert was magnificent as an Everyman trying to do his duty in the midst of hopelessly insane bureaucracy. We had a great time.”

MacLean, who was very nervous through the proceedings, said, “I’m being cautiously optimistic.” Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Federal government • Justice • Transportation | 25 Comments »

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