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San Francisco County, CA June 3, 2008 Election
Proposition C
Forfeiture of Retirement Benefits for Conviction of a Crime Involving Moral Turpitude in Connection with City Employment
City of San Francisco

Majority Approval Required

Pass: 91,924 / 58.07% Yes votes ...... 66,379 / 41.93% No votes

See Also: Index of all Measures

Results as of July 9 1:13pm, 100.0% of Precincts Reporting (580/580)
Information shown below: Summary | Fiscal Impact | Yes/No Meaning | Arguments |

Shall the City prohibit San Francisco Employees' Retirement System members who are convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude in connection with their employment from receiving any retirement benefits funded with employer contributions?

Summary Prepared by Ballot Simplification Committee:
THE WAY IT IS NOW: The Charter prohibits employees who were members of the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (SFERS) from receiving any employer-funded retirement benefit if they were convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude in connection with their employment. This provision was first added in 1966. New retirement plans must be approved by the voters through Charter amendments. Since 1966, this prohibition relating to conviction for certain crimes was not consistently added to all new retirement plans added to the Charter.

A court recently found that the Charter's prohibition relating to conviction for certain crimes applies only to retirement service benefits and not to all other forms of benefits, such as claims for disability retirement or a vesting allowance.

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition C is a Charter Amendment that would prohibit San Francisco Employees' Retirement System members who are convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude in connection with their employment from receiving any retirement benefits funded with employer contributions.

This prohibition would apply to employees regardless of whether they retired from service, retired as a result of a disability, or were receiving a vesting allowance.

Fiscal Impact from City Controller:
City Controller Edward Harrington has issued the following statement on the fiscal impact of Proposition C:

Should the proposed charter amendment be approved by the voters, in my opinion, it would not affect the cost of government. The Charter amendment affirms prior voter-approved policy by conforming retirement-related sections of the Charter to state that retirement system members who are convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude related to their public employment are prohibited from receiving employer-funded retirement benefits.

Meaning of Voting Yes/No
A YES vote on this measure means:
If you vote yes, you want to amend the Charter to prohibit San Francisco Employees' Retirement System members who are convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude in connection with their employment from receiving any retirement benefits funded with employer contributions

A NO vote on this measure means:
If you vote no, you do not want to make these changes to the Charter.

 
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Arguments For Proposition C Arguments Against Proposition C
Voters Oppose Funding Dishonest Acts!

For a near half century, the City's Charter has upheld the will of the voters by prohibiting City employees from receiving any taxpayer-funded retirement benefits if they were criminally convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude committed against the City in the course of their employment. Past examples of such crimes include stealing books from our public libraries, and stealing parking meter revenue that should have gone to improving our MUNI system.

Despite the voters' intent, a recent court ruling stated that this provision applies only to a certain classification of retirements, not all retirements.

Proposition C will reaffirm the voters' intent, by responding directly to this poorly crafted judicial opinion by prohibiting any and all City employees convicted of a crime involving moral turpitude against the City, during the course of their employment, from receiving any taxpayer contributions to their pensions upon application for their retirement.

All but one member of the Board of Supervisors voted in favor of Proposition C, and the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System Board unanimously approved the measure.

Please join me in reaffirming the will of the voters by voting YES on C.

Sean R. Elsbernd
Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Member, San Francisco Employee Retirement System Board*

  • For identification purposes only

Rebuttal to Arguments For
The politicians are at it again, cluttering up our ballot with purely symbolic measures. The proponents of Proposition C have provided no compelling reason to justify the expense of yet another ballot measure to alter the City's charter. Worse still, even as a purely symbolic measure, Proposition C is unworthy of our great city. It falsely suggests that San Francisco's public employees are committing crimes on the job and going unpunished, but the truth is that most public health nurses, firefighters, teachers and other public employees are extraordinarily dedicated and law-abiding public servants. When a bad actor does commit a crime, our excellent district attorney has the tools she needs to root out public corruption. There is simply no need for a measure like Proposition C. Proposition C is all the more repugnant for its use of language - "crimes of moral turpitude" - that has long been used in many parts of this country as a way to prosecute homosexual activity. The Harvey Milk Club does not like public- employee-bashing any more than we like gay-bashing. We join the San Francisco Democratic Party and the San Francisco Labor Council in urging you to vote NO on Proposition C.

Harvey Milk LGBT Democratic Club

No on Prop C.

In the past, moral turpitude has been defined in discriminatory ways by conservative judges.

San Francisco values mean standing up for all of us against consevative attacks.

Please vote no on Prop C.

Supervisor Chris Daly

Rebuttal to Arguments Against
Dishonesty is not a San Francisco value.

San Francisco voters do not support providing taxpayer funded retirement benefits to former City employees convicted of stealing taxpayer money while working for the City. Current law requires such benefits be forfeited by such persons because voters passed the measure over forty years ago and have continued to do so at every opportunity.

Measure C does not change current law.

Measure C defends current law by eliminating a loophole created by a drafting error decades ago and uncovered in a recent court ruling.

The decision to award or deny retirement benefits is not, and has never been, made by "conservative judges".

The decision is made by the San Francisco Retirement Board, composed of members appointed by the Mayor and the Board of Supervisors and elected by retirees.

Without the clarification provided by Measure C, convicted criminals will profit at the taxpayer's expense twice: first by stealing from their publicly funded City employer, and second by exploiting a weakness in the City Charter to illegally qualify for publicly funded benefits.

Uphold the will of the voters. Vote yes on C!

Sean R. Elsbernd
Member, San Francisco Board of Supervisors
Member, San Francisco Retirement Board


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Created: July 31, 2008 13:36 PDT
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