Unions are shelling out money for their candidates in a CalPERS election. Who’s running?

Organized labor is pouring money into an upcoming election for two seats on the 13-member board that oversees California’s public pension system, recently valued at $492 billion.

Unions primarily are spending to help CalPERS Board of Administration member David Miller and first-time candidate Jose-Luis Pacheco, according to campaign finance data published by the Secretary of State’s Office

Miller, 61, of Rio Linda, a Department of Toxic Substances Control environmental scientist, seeks a second term on the CalPERS board. He faces new challenger Tiffany Emon-Moran, 37, who retired from the City of San Bernardino Police Department for medical reasons in 2017.

Pacheco, 54, of Campbell, an IT administrator for the San Jose Evergreen Community College District, is challenging incumbent Margaret Brown. Brown, 61, of Apple Valley, is a retired school administrator seeking a second term.

The two open seats on the CalPERS board both represent all 2 million members of the pension system, including public employees, retirees and beneficiaries. Mail ballots are due by Sept. 27.

An independent expenditure committee created over the summer has collected nearly $500,000 from school employee unions, SEIU, state scientist and engineer unions and local firefighters to support Miller and Pacheco,.

“What’s at stake is what’s always at stake, which is the delivery of quality retirement benefits and health care to public employees,” said Terry Brennand, a lobbyist for SEIU California. “Ensuring that that continues, that it’s well funded and that they’re the highest-quality benefits that we can deliver.”

The group paid for a recent mailer packaged in brown envelopes that said “CalPERS Board Election Alert” on the front.

The mailers included a list of attacks on Brown, a self-styled “watchdog” who sued CalPERS last year alleging the pension fund’s president improperly retaliated against over allegations that she misused the CalPERS name and logo for political purposes.

A Sacramento County Superior Court judge dismissed her lawsuit in December, finding she did not present evidence to support her claim.

The new campaign mailer calls attention to the $80,000 CalPERS spent on legal fees to defend the board from Brown’s lawsuit.

The mailer also cites harassment claims made against Brown by San Ramon Unified School District employees in 2006. The district found the complaints lacked merit after a 2006 investigation but later paid $1.2 million to settle four lawsuits from the employees.

“There’s nothing in those hit pieces that say I’ve done a bad job in the last four years, or they have a problem with my job or votes or oversight or transparency,” Brown said in an interview. “They can’t attack my record or what I’m doing for beneficiaries. They have to make up or twist facts to try to make me look bad.”

In addition to the independent expenditure committee contributions, labor organizations have given directly to the campaigns of their two favored candidates. Pacheco had collected about $101,000 as of last week for his campaign, while Miller had collected about $78,000, according to campaign finance data.

Labor’s support has so far outpaced the contributions Brown and Emon-Moran have collected from supporters, including the influential Retired Public Employees’ Association and California State Retirees, law enforcement unions and Cal Fire Local 2881, which represents state firefighters.

Brown last week had reported about $40,000 in contributions, while Emon-Moran had reported about $49,000.

The groups are all aiming to boost participation from supporters in the typically low-turnout CalPERS elections. Last time the system held a vote for board members representing all two million of its members, just 121,000 voted.

Brown vs. Pacheco

Brennand of SEIU said the organization supports Pacheco due to his “experience working with actual public employees, side by side, rather than this management person who’s directing them,” referencing Brown.

Brown said she expects the money comes with strings attached.

“My guess is since he’s backed by SEIU, he’s going to vote just the way they tell him to, but I don’t know,” she said. “I believe you need independence. And I have that independence.”

Brown prides herself on her oversight of the retirement system and its employees who run the pension system’s day-to-day operations.

Her most recent push, she said, is to get an audit of CalPERS’ troubled long-term care insurance program, which is raising rates by up to 90% over the next two years and has agreed to pay up to $2.7 billion in a class-action lawsuit over a previous round of rate hikes.

Pacheco, who said he decided to make a run at a CalPERS seat due to his reverence for the public education and retirement benefits that ushered his farmworker parents into the middle class, called Brown’s activities a distraction. He’s a part of a union represents that some 250,000 classified school employees who earn CalPERS pensions.

“I’m going to bring professionalism and due diligence back to this position,” he said. “We are all watchdogs, but the board should not be a spectacle that diverts attention from the important decisions they will make.”

Miller vs. Emon-Moran

Among the groups backing Miller is the California Association of Professional Scientists, which has given $9,700 to his campaign and $25,000 to the independent expenditure committee supporting him.

Miller is a longtime board member and past president of the union.

“Our interests align with regards to defined benefits and health care, and we as an organization have seen his professionalism and sense of decorum as a CAPS board member over the years,” said Bianca Petzold, the union’s staff director.

Miller said his experience, which included attending occasional CalPERS board meetings on the union’s behalf long before he started campaigning for a seat himself, gives him an edge over his opponent.

“For 30-plus years I’ve been actively involved in defending and protecting public employees’ rights,” he said. “I’ve been involved in civil rights, labor, all levels from worksite representation to collective bargaining chair.”

Emon-Moran said she became interested in CalPERS after starting a job in local labor negotiations and finding out that the pension system was underfunded and had missed its investment return target multiple years.

She said her experience as a law enforcement officer and fraud examiner would distinguish her from other board members.

“CalPERS has had plenty of fraud and corruption in the past, so I believe my background would be an asset,” she said.

David Soares of the Retired Public Employees Association said the group supports Emon-Moran because its members feel that she, like Brown, will bring heightened scrutiny to management of the retirement system’s investment fund.

“We feel a board member who is more active in questioning is who we’re going to support,” he said.

This story was originally published September 8, 2021 at 5:25 AM with the headline "Unions are shelling out money for their candidates in a CalPERS election. Who’s running?."