San Diego pension board will not pay legal fees

Two former officials of the San Diego public employees' pension system cannot rely on the pension board to pay their legal fees. The Union-Tribune reports:

Former system administrator Lawrence Grissom and former general counsel Loraine Chapin face federal charges stemming from their roles in a 2002 deal that linked employee benefits to a proposal to continue to underfund the pension system. The practice began in 1996.

Though proposals to offer the indemnity attracted a majority vote – 5-2, with one abstention – they failed because seven votes are needed for the board's approval. Eight of the board's nine members were present; four seats are vacant.

Board members debated the issue for more than an hour, after hearing from attorneys for Grissom and Chapin, who criticized the federal prosecutors' case, and City Attorney Michael Aguirre, who has opposed using public funds to pay the legal fees of those facing criminal charges.