Chris Prevatt Elected to OCERS Board of Trustees

Chris Prevatt, the publisher of TheLiberalOC, has been elected to the Orange County Employees Retirement System (OCERS) Board of Trustees as one of two general member representatives. Ballots in the general member-only election were counted by the Orange County Registrar of Voters on Tuesday, October 23rd and Prevatt received 3409 votes and Ian Rudge, Supervisor John Moorlach’s Chief of Staff, received 537 votes. Prevatt crushed Rudge by a 6 to 1 margin.

OCERS provides retirement, death, disability, and cost-of-living benefits to employees of the County and certain districts.  Since it was established, OCERS’ membership has increased from less than 1,000 members in 1945 to more than 27,000 active and deferred members and 12,700 retired members as of December 2011. The OCERS Board of Retirement has 10 trustees bound by the County Employees’ Retirement Law of 1937. Of the 10 members, four are appointed by the County Board of Supervisors; four (including the Safety alternate) are elected by OCERS’ active members. One is elected by the retired membership.  The County Treasurer serves as an ex-officio member. Board members serve three-year terms, with the exception of the County Treasurer, who serves during his or her tenure in office.

In an email to members of the system Prevatt wrote:

“Thank you for your overwhelming support in this election. I am humbled by your support and promise to fight alongside your other General Member Trustee Frank Eley to protect your interests. Together, Frank and I will do everything we can to ensure that your pensions are safe with us.

But our work is far from done, and your support is needed to defeat a very deceptive initiative on your general election ballot, Proposition 32.

Prop. 32 was created by corporate billionaires and the Orange County political allies who support Supervisor John Moorlach’s attacks on our retirement security. Prop 32 claims to be about stopping special interests, but don’t buy it. That’s just code for eliminating jobs, eliminating benefits and eliminating unions. The LA Times calls Prop 32 “The fraud to end all frauds.” That’s because it’s riddled with exemptions for all sorts of corporate special interests. And if they’re successful at passing Prop. 32, they will come after our jobs, our retirement security and our workplace protections next.

If you haven’t already, please take the online pledge to vote no on Prop. 32.”

Please join me in congratulating Chris.