Ousted CalPERS president convinced governor helped bounce him

[Kadie]

Ousted CalPERS president convinced governor helped bounce him
JIM WASSERMAN, Associated Press Writer

Wednesday, December 29, 2004



(12-29) 14:31 PST SACRAMENTO (AP) --

Sean Harrigan, ousted as president of the $182.8 billion California Public Employees Retirement System, said in an interview Wednesday that he's still convinced Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Walt Disney Co. and Safeway Inc., played significant roles in his departure.

"I was totally convinced in early December and late November, and I'm totally convinced today, the Chamber of Commerce and Steve Burd and Michael Eisner and the Schwarzenegger administration played a key role in making sure I wasn't re-elected by the state personnel board to the CalPERS board," Harrigan said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press Wednesday from Spokane, Wash.

"It was the only place they could take me out," he said.

Of Harrigan's comments, Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Margita Thompson said "it's too bad the holiday season hasn't done away with Mr. Harrigan's paranoia."

more...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/12/29/state1535EST0054.DTL

[BrotherBuzz]

1. Well, who should we believe?

A Schwarzenegger spokeswoman (is that an oxymoron?) or the president of of an outfit that controls a huge chunk of money, wields a lot of power, and looks after the common man's interests.

Actually this story is much larger than it first appears and has a trail that leads back to the SEC and Bush*. Me thinks Schwarznegger is doing the bidding for Bush* and Big Business, further proof Fascism is alive and well in America.

Other view: CalPERS and the corporate governance wars

By Sanford M. Jacoby -- Special To The Bee
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, December 17, 2004

The dismissal of Sean Harrigan from the presidency of California's giant public employee pension fund, CalPERS, is just the latest skirmish in the corporate governance wars. On one side are pension and mutual funds that believe corporations must be prodded to consider shareholder interests. On the other are business executives tired of being blamed - and regulated - for what they view as a few bad corporate apples such as Enron.

One issue at stake is a rule proposed last year by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It would permit long-term shareholders to nominate candidates for a company's board of directors in certain limited situations. This "proxy access" is opposed by much of the business community, yet supported by advocates of good governance such as the California Public Employees' Retirement System. If adopted, the rule would be a major change from now, when boards are not obligated to act on shareholder resolutions and shareholders have no right to nominate board candidates.

With President Bush heading into a second term, the SEC is under intense pressure from business to shelve the proposal. Yet corporate governance is too important to be left to self-appointed experts and lobbyists. When a corporation misbehaves, it puts at risk the security of the company's employees and retirees. It also threatens the savings of millions of Americans. Today, almost half of the adult U.S. population invests in stocks either directly or through a pension plan.

While many U.S. corporations are competently managed, more than a few bad apples remain in the barrel, as New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's recent investigations have shown. Why have we had so many corporate scandals in recent years? During the 1980s, U.S. companies were failing to meet competitive challenges from abroad. Under pressure from corporate raiders and investors such as CalPERS, business was forced to adopt a new focus on "shareholder value."

<more>

http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/11792565p-12677253c.html

[Capn Sunshine]

2. This is consistent with Wall St.'s plans for CA Money

At its core, the Schwarzeneger for Gov movement resembled power company/Enron in one respect: it's all about removing capital FROM California and putting it in Wall Street.

It's no coincidence that among the first things Gov Groper did was "settle" the Enron suit for pennies on the dollar. So the money at issue STAYS in Citibank, and does NOT return to CA.

One of the first things Arnold did upon his election was travel East, meet up with Wall Street--where they threw him a private 250,000 per plate fundraiser to retire his campaign debt ( remember he loaned himself a shitload of money that was in peril of not being paid back)

Next thing you know, Cali's "fiscal crisis" is underwritten and serviced by a WALL STREET INVESTMENT HOUSE when any number of California financial entities could have and should have done it, so all that capital now flows OUT of California every month instead of staying here and benefitting the fifth largest economy in the world.

Interfere with this cozy arrangement? Insist that these rapacious pigs play by the RULES if nothing else, with OUR MONEY? You get your career shortened, as Sean Harrigan discovered.

It's always about money , folks. And Gropenator is just a willing conduit. In the end, it's the little guy who pays, and THAT is the neocon plan in a nutshell.