Arnoldwatch.org-A Burd in the Hand

[realFedUp]

A Burd in the Hand
By Douglas Heller

Corporate reformer Sean Harrigan says that Arnold was the hand behind his ouster from his position as President of the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) today. CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund, has been the driving force for reforming corporate boardrooms since the Enron/WorldCom/Tyco catastrophes of a few years back. Harrigan ruffled some feathers in Corporate America by challenging do-nothing directors and self-serving executives who had turned their backs on shareholders and employees.

The feathers of one Burd (Steven Burd, CEO of Safeway, that is) were particularly ruffled when Harrigan and CalPERS withheld shareholder votes from his bid to stay on as Safeway's head (he survived the vote). So when it came time for Arnold's State Personnel Board to decide whether or not to keep Harrigan at CalPERS, Burd and Safeway called for Harrigan's head.

Insiders tell ArnoldWatch that Arnold's Chief of Staff, Patricia Clarey, and others in his inner circle promised Democratic appointees to the State Personnel Board extended terms if they voted Sean Harrigan off of CalPERS. The gov's team may be squawking that this kind of quid pro quo would never happen, but the fact is $71K in Safeway campaign contributions are feathering Arnold's nest.

Read more at http://www.ArnoldWatch.org

[jamesinca]

1. This was also in the WaPo

washingtonpost.com
Corporate Critic to Exit
Head of California Pension Fund Expects to Lose Vote Today
By Ben White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 1, 2004; Page E01


Sean Harrigan, president of California's public employee pension fund and a major figure in the shareholder activist movement, said yesterday that he is likely to be forced from his job.

Harrigan oversees the nation's largest public pension fund, which has $177.8 billion in assets. He has used the perch to lead high-profile campaigns against what he views as excessive executive compensation and poor corporate governance practices. He led fights against chief executives at such companies as Citigroup Inc., Walt Disney Co. and Safeway Inc. He had a major role in bringing down Dick Grasso as chairman of the New York Stock Exchange.

Along the way, Harrigan received admiring praise from shareholder groups and occasional complaints that the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) had gone too far.Harrigan was fiercely opposed by business groups and California Republicans who said his background as an official of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union clouded his judgment as Calpers president, especially during the pension fund's campaign to oust Safeway chief executive Steven A. Burd. The campaign took place as Safeway was battling union officials over labor issues. Burd won 83 percent support from Safeway shareholders.

<snip>

Rob Feckner, chairman of Calpers's investment committee, accused California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, of succumbing to pressure from big businesses and maneuvering to have Harrigan ousted when the five-member State Personnel Board votes today on its representative to the Calpers board. Harrigan is the personnel board's representative. The Los Angeles Times reported yesterday that Harrigan was expected to lose the vote 3 to 2.

"I think there was pressure from the governor," Feckner said. "Corporate America is not happy with some of the reforms that Calpers has put forward." A spokesman for Schwarzenegger, Vince Sollitto, called the accusations "paranoid musings" and said the governor had exerted no influence on the personnel board vote. "The representative to Calpers from the State Personnel Board is elected by the five personnel board members. This governor has appointed one of them," Sollitto said. "You do the math."

<snip>

The Calpers board has 13 members, most of whom are widely seen as holding views similar to Harrigan's on shareholder issues. So the next president is not expected to pursue a radically different agenda.
Feckner, chairman of Calpers's investment committee, echoed that view, saying he would serve as interim president if Harrigan is ousted and that whoever becomes the next full-time president would follow the same agenda.