The proposed initiative to scrap the city of Tucson’s pension program is facing a legal challenge.
Attorney Roopali H. Desai of Phoenix-based Coppersmith Schermer & Brockelman filed the lawsuit on Monday, July 22. The suit alleges that many of the signatures on the initiatives should be invalidated for various technical reasons, including 6,713 signatures that attorneys allege were collected by people with criminal records whose civil rights have not been restored.
City officials have warned that the initiative could cost the city millions of dollars if it passes.
Pete Zimmerman, the political consultant for the Committee for Sustainable Retirement campaign, said in an email:
This is clearly an effort to obfuscate the issue. The petition effort was carefully conducted and the offices of the City Clerk and County Recorder rigorously examined the signatures, ultimately concluding that the submittal exceeded the minimum requirements by more than 40%. The 23,000 people who signed the petition deserve to see this issue on the November ballot. Let the voters decide.
Desai did not return a phone call this afternoon.
A court date has been set for Friday, Aug. 2.
This post has been updated to include Pete Zimmerman’s comment.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2013.
Re Lawsuit… Have these über rich billionaires nothing better to do than destroy civ
The voters HAVE decided – keep the lawyers hands off our pensions, and have them try to spend more time upholding the law than subverting it.
All pensions are going to have to be converted to 401K’s. Otherwise, every city in the country will eventually look like Detroit.
Having worked for a state government and now being recipient of a defined benefit pension, I would never subscribe to the ‘theory’ that switching to defined contribution plans (e.g., 401Ks) is the solution to the financial woes of the city, state or nation. And such a switch is surely not advocated for the benefit of the worker. All too many people are not paid enough to save and invest on their own beyond the automatic payroll deductions for the 401K, and they will predictably be left worse off in retirement than they would be with a defined benefit pension. My benefits from the state retirement system and Social Security appear in my bank account on time every month, and they have increased annually as promised. My modest investment portfolio has fluctuated, some would say wildly, over the past 15+ years, but it remains at best unpredictable.