"Another member of L.A. pension board resigns," by David Zahniser, Oct. 28, 2009 . http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/topofthetimes/national/la-me-pension28-2009oct28,0,5787968.story The news here involves an alum from the Lincoln High Cl. of 1967, producer Moctezuma Esparza, who was appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa to the "Los Angeles City Employees' Retirement System," aka "LACERS." Esparza's position was a volunteer position. This makes him the seventh of the Villaraigosa appointees to resign in the last six months according to the Times' story.
The story explains some of the reasons for departures, and while there is no actual violation of anything now. Esparza has some business interest that could be considered within the newly changed law that prevents a person from holding a commission appointment while having dealings that may conflict with the public's interests.
The city's retirement system has lost a huge amount of money over investments in the downturn of the economy. This is something that is being investigated to determine whether any dealings happened to benefit individuals making the investment selections. The City is responsible to make up losses to the pension fund, something that doesn't happen with most private pension investments. The city's budget woes were made significantly more serious by these losses, with many investments made in projects of unusually large size and carrying significant risk. Losses were suffered when those went belly up or were otherwise devalued in the real estate market's plunge.
The various reasons for resignations of the other members are stated in the story. It appears to be a good choice on Esparza's part to leave in order to be clear as not having any question of conflicts of interest raised from potential personal benefits that could arise as a commissioner on the pension board. It's a problem he doesn't need to be involved with. Esparza is known for producing many notable movies, among them, Selena, Gettsburg, The Milagro Beanfield War, and Walkout.
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