1 minute
The Los Angeles Times has found that the board members in charge of the Los Angeles County employee pension fund took trips to such faraway locales as Abu Dhabi, Tokyo, China, Australia, Italy, Israel, Paris and other exotic destinations.
From the LAT: “Another trustee requested and was approved for a reimbursement of $400 for a pair of lost prescription sunglasses on a trip. Still others spent more on rooms or meals than expected. … The resulting data include records for some 440 trips between the summer of 2015 and March of this year. … One trustee, Herman Santos, a county public defender who serves on both boards [of the fund’s governing panels], attended nearly 50 functions at a cost of $219,000.”
The cost of the travel and expenses “are paid with earnings from the [pension] fund” – earnings that otherwise would have bolstered the county’s retirement fund.
Les Robbins, a retired sheriff’s deputy who has taken only one trip since 2016, told the LAT: “The board is probably going to take a look at the travel policy and perhaps make some changes. But we have board members who like to travel.”
And we wonder why the public employee pension fund is going broke?
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-07-28/la-me-pension-travel-costs-lacera