'Golden handshake' foe says Assembly speaker stripped him of rules post

Assemblyman Hector De La Torre said Tuesday that he was ousted as chairman of the powerful Rules Committee for challenging Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez's "golden handshake" offer to employees as a potential taxpayer ripoff.

De La Torre, D-South Gate, said he simply could not justify – despite Núñez's insistence – pension-sweetening offers to 222 employees, of whom 13 already qualify for pensions above $100,000 and an additional 12 for pensions of $70,000 to $99,999.

"I felt it wasn't good for taxpayers and didn't make sense in light of everything else that's going on with the budget," he said.

De La Torre said it appeared that Núñez was pushing the golden handshake offer as a form of gratitude – "icing on the cake" – for Assembly employees in the lame-duck leader's final months.

Steve Maviglio, Núñez's spokesman, declined to comment Tuesday.

"It is and always will be an internal caucus matter," he said of replacing De La Torre on the committee that oversees Assembly operations.

However, Maviglio defended the golden handshake proposal, which offers two years of additional service credit to Assembly employees who are 50 or older and have worked for the state at least five years.

"It was part of a cost-savings package that will help the Assembly reduce its expenditures by 10 percent," Maviglio said. "It's worked in the past and it should work again."

Jon Waldie, the Assembly's chief administrative officer, said his office had suggested the golden handshake plan to Núñez because it mirrored an incentive that was successful in 2003.

Waldie said the Assembly could save $2 million to $3 million if 40 employees accept the offer. Anyone who receives a golden handshake is not expected to be replaced for a period of three to 18 months, depending upon the job, Waldie said.

Five legislative employees have accepted the offer thus far, records show.

Núñez's staff includes nearly four dozen employees whose pay exceeds $100,000 annually. De La Torre said workers eligible for a golden handshake serve throughout the Assembly, however, and the incentive did not seem tilted toward the speaker's office. A list of eligible employees was not available Tuesday.

De La Torre said he felt taxpayers were getting shortchanged because Assembly employees who qualify for large pensions already have an incentive to leave – without sweetening the pot.

Significant savings could be realized simply by holding positions vacant as employees leave of their own accord, De La Torre said.

"I just can't abide by it," he said of the plan.

He also expressed skepticism that any replacements hired would earn much less than workers who preceded them.

Waldie said the program's effectiveness will depend upon who accepts the incentive, how long positions are kept open, and the salaries of any replacements hired, none of which is known yet.

Thousands of other state workers have participated in golden handshake programs offered in eight years since 1982, said Lynelle Jolley, spokeswoman for the Department of Personnel Administration.

Jolley said she could not speak for legislative projections or payrolls, but that other state agencies often find it hard to show that "savings outweigh the costs."

Substantial savings often require keeping a position vacant for longer than many agencies can justify doing so, Jolley said.

H.D. Palmer, spokesman for the state Department of Finance, said the agency has no philosophical objection to golden handshakes.

"The fact that a number of newspapers around the country are offering buyouts is a signal from your own industry that they believe it's a way to control long-term costs," he said.

The Assembly Rules Committee approved two, 120-day windows for employees to apply, allowing workers to remain on their jobs until the end of this year's legislative session.

De La Torre was chairman of the Rules Committee when the vote was taken, but he opted not to attend rather than to publicly reject Núñez's plan, which was supported by both parties.

One week later, De La Torre said he received a call from Waldie informing him that Núñez had stripped his committee chairmanship and that he had one day to vacate his office.

De La Torre said he never was told specifically that the pension dispute sparked his ouster. But the motive was clear, he said.

De La Torre said he never before had argued with Núñez, and "it seems implausible that there would be any other reason, considering the timing and the nature of the disagreement."

De La Torre had been a candidate to succeed Núñez. The speaker did not back De La Torre, even before the pension dispute, opting instead for Assemblywoman Karen Bass, a Los Angeles Democrat who ultimately was elected speaker-elect.

By ousting him as Rules Committee chairman, Núñez also was sending a message throughout the Capitol in the wake of Bass' election, De La Torre said.

"(The message is) he's still speaker and can still exercise control and power in the institution," De La Torre said.

About the writer:

• Call Jim Sanders, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5538. Bee staff writer Phillip Reese con- tributed to this report.