O.C. Retirement Board Deserves Accolade

The debate over the performance of the Orange County Retirement Board is disgusting, particularly those comments made by Supervisor Roger R. Stanton and those other so-called investor fund experts. Stanton has called for the creation of a separate board of investments, composed of people with hefty investment experience, and placing this new board and the current board executive officer under the direct authority of the County Board of Supervisors. What a laugh.

I hasten to point out the supervisors’ most recent brilliant management successes--construction of the airport terminal, the solving of the jail problem, the illegal seizing of Rancho del Rio and trying to sell it for development rather than making it a drug training center, as Sheriff Brad Gates and the U.S. attorney’s office say they are legally required to do.

As for Mary Jean Hackwood, retirement administrator, and the entire retirement board, it seems to me that they are guilty of committing three unforgivable sins: 1. They earned too much money last year for our pension fund, 15%, which is more than any other county pension fund in the state. Shame, shame. 2. They are carrying a $200-million reserve, which our poor county auditor feels is embarrassingly large. Shame, shame. 3. They have not adopted social investing guidelines.

The members of the Orange County Retirement Board deserve our accolades and thanks for a job well done.

THOMAS J. MEADOWS, San Juan Capistrano