Diann Shipione - Revelation of The Problem

Revelation of The Problem

In 2002 Shipione, as a pension board trustee, raised concerns to the San Diego Mayor and City Council about a proposal that would essentially reduce money going into the retirement fund and increase money going out of it. In 2003 she raised additional concerns that an announced $500 million City of San Diego bond sale prospectus had material omissions about the pension fund.

City officials and other pension board members made efforts to discredit and sideline her. At one point they bought an ad in the San Diego Union-Tribune that scoffed, "Chicken Little Would Be Proud." In a continued effort to remove her from the retirement board, the Mayor and a City Council majority voted to ban investment advisers from the board; Shipione was the only investment adviser on the retirement board. Eventually the City Council rescinded its vote to ban investment advisors after the national press picked up coverage on the matter. Later, the City Council decided to terminate the remaining terms of all members of the board and have the entire board replaced. Despite calls for Shipione to be appointed to the new board, she was not.

Conflict came to a peak on November 19, 2004 when she was ordered to leave a closed session of the trustees. A plan to place her under citizen's arrest and have police remove her was almost implemented, but she left as ordered. The other board members voted to file ethics charges against her, ask for her removal as a board member, and ban her from meetings. The San Diego Ethics Commission later dismissed the complaints levied against her by the pension board.

Meanwhile, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission had begun investigations into the city's municipal bond disclosures regarding its pension and retiree health care obligations. By 2005, several city officials had resigned, including the City Auditor, City Manager, City Treasurer and newly reelected Mayor Dick Murphy.