Two Cal Poly Pomona professors emeriti have called on the Legislature and Attorney General Jerry Brown to probe flawed investment choices by CalPERS in recent years.
Professors Walter Coombs of Claremont and Ralph Shaffer of Covina called for the investigations in an opinion piece published in The Riverside Press Enterprise.
To read their full commentary, click here. Here are their ending remarks:
It's time for a thorough examination of CalPERS by the state attorney general and the Legislature.
Recent investments smack of cronyism and outright conflict of interest. Were investment transactions based on proper research or did certain favored real estate firms exercise any influence? The attorney general must determine if there is any criminal liability involved.
Unless some outside authority undertakes a painstaking investigation, the nation's biggest public pension fund will remain the biggest example of questionable management of its members' retirement nest egg.
It should not be forgotten that the attorney general already is conducting his own investigation of some CalPERS deals.
Though some California firms have been investigated by the New York attorney general, and one has even paid $2 million to settle a case, nobody has been prosecuted by Brown's office though the pension fund/placement agent scandal has simmered for months.
CalPERS itself has hired an outside law firm from Washington, D.C., to conduct a review of the fund's dealings with Nevada placement agent Alfred Villalobos, who has raked in more than $70 million in fees for helping investment firms secure deals with CalPERS.
The pension fund's board has also moved recently to strengthen its own ethics rules. Read more about that by clicking here.
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