Tag: Chicago

Chicago police vaccine mandate: New CPD memo threatens discipline, firing for non-compliance

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://abc7chicago.com/chicago-police-vaccine-mandate-department-fraternal-order-of-fop/11138418/

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 A second memo, obtained by the I-Team, was distributed throughout CPD Sunday. The latest memo threatens the firing of officers who do not follow the city’s vaccine policy and orders it be communicated to officers at all police roll calls.

“TO BE READ AT ALL ROLL CALLS FOR SEVEN (7) CONSECUTIVE DAYS. This AMC message informs Department members of consequences of disobeying a direct order to comply with the City of Chicago’s Vaccination POlice issued 8 October 2021 and being the subject of the resulting disciplinary investigation. A Department member, civilian or sworn, who disobeys a direct order by a supervisor to comply with the City of Chicago’s Vaccination Police issued 8 October 2021 will become the subject of a disciplinary investigation that could result in a penalty up to and including separation from the Chicago Police Department. Furthermore, sworn members who retire while under disciplinary investigations may be denied retirement credentials. Any questions concerning this AMC message may be directed to the Legal Affairs Division via e-mail,” the memo said.

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“Roughly 38% of the sworn officers on this job, almost 40% can lock in a pension and walk away today,” Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, Jr. said.

Author(s): Michelle Gallardo, Chuck Goudie

Publication Date: 18 Oct 2021

Publication Site: ABC7 Chicago

Everyone Is Urging SEC To Stop Public Pension Mismanagement, Looting By Wall Street

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2021/10/07/everyone-is-urging-sec-to-stop-public-pension-mismanagement–looting-by-wall-street/

Excerpt:

An investigation of the Chicago Policemen Annuity and Benefit Fund was funded by members of the Chicago Police Department Pension Board Accountability Group. According to the report, the CPABF is one of the worst funded public pension plans in the U.S. today with a funding ratio at year-end of only 23%. According to the report, “The toxic mix of defunding the police pension, conflicted and high-risk investments, and poor management of the pension cry out for greater transparency and accountability.”

As Arthur Levitt, Chairman of the SEC stated back in 1999 in connection with the Commission’s review of pay-to-play practices at public pensions, “Today, public funds hold more than $2 trillion of assets. These assets do not belong to the elected officials, and they do not belong to the trustees. They belong to the tens of thousands of firefighters, ambulance drivers, city clerks, bus drivers and other public employees who make our communities work. “Their interests,” as my father said twenty years ago, “must be paramount in investment of that money.”

The tremendous importance of public funds demands that they be managed with complete honesty and integrity and for the sole benefit of their beneficiaries.”

Author(s): Edward Siedle

Publication Date: 7 October 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

No, Lightfoot’s Chicago Budget Does Not Make An ‘Actuarial’ Pension Contribution

Mary Pat Campbell

Link:https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2021/10/10/no-lightfoots-chicago-budget-does-not-make-an-actuarial-pension-contribution/

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Now, what she identifies as an “accomplishment,” having finished the climb up the pension ramp, is actually a state law that left her no choice in the matter. But that’s not the only incorrect part of her statement. Even having finally left the ramp behind, the plans are not funded on an “actuarially determined basis.” They are funded based on the Illinois legislature’s decision of a funding schedule which, for the police and fire plans, is sufficient to attain 90% funding in the year 2055, and for the Municipal and Laborers’ plan, not until 2058. Yes, if you do the math, that’s 34 and 37 years from now.

In fact, the plans’ actuarial valuations calculate a figure that’s labelled the Actuarially Determined Contribution. For the Fire plan (19% funded), the city’s contribution was only 79% of the ADC; for the Police plan (23% funded), the city’s contribution was only 75% of the ADC. And these are the two plans which reached the top of the ramp last year!

Author(s): Elizabeth Bauer

Publication Date: 10 Oct 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

Chicago Police Pension Forensic Audit Ends With Disturbing Findings

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2021/09/03/chicago-police-pension-forensic-audit-ends-with-disturbing-findings/?sh=18a0d9717c0c

Excerpt:

This week, the Chicago Police Department Pension Board Accountability Group—comprised of retired and active Chicago police officers and their dependents— released the scathing findings of a forensic audit of the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund. The Group hired an outside expert to conduct the forensic audit after the pension refused their request to do so on its own.

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According to a lawsuit filed this week by Tobe, the pension denied most of his requests for records under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. It’s no secret that state and local government pensions—which are supposed to be the most transparent of all pensions—are regularly criticized for opposing public record requests, particularly related to alternative investment documents.

The report accuses the pension of failing to monitor and fully disclose investment fees and expenses.  It is estimated that fees and expenses could be 10 times greater than the $7.4 million disclosed in the pension’s most recent financial audit.  Tobe believes the fees related to dozens of investment managers are not properly disclosed. Using assumptions from an Oxford study, Tobe estimated that undisclosed fees could be as high as $70 million a year. Also, $2 million to $3 million a year in investment fees may have been paid to Wall Street for doing nothing, i.e., fees on committed, uninvested capital. 

Author(s): Edward Siedle

Publication Date: 3 Sept 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

Report Claims Taxpayers Are Paying Millions More Than Needed In Unnecessary Fees For Chicago Police Pension Fund

Mary Pat Campbell
Report Claims Taxpayers Are Paying Millions More Than Needed In Unnecessary Fees For Chicago Police Pension Fund

Link: https://chicago.cbslocal.com/2021/08/31/chicago-police-pension-fund-unncecessary-fees-underfunding-report/

Excerpt:

A scathing report has been issued about Chicago’s police pension fund, claiming taxpayers are paying millions of dollars more than needed in unnecessary fees.

Financial auditor Chris Tobe released a report Tuesday, three months after a group of retired officers hired him to review the management of the Policemen’s Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago.

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Tobe said the police pension fund is one of the most underfunded in the country.

He said those hidden fees should set off alarms for taxpayers.

“The financials claim around $7 million a year, but I’ve estimated over $70 million – 10 times that amount – paid out in no-bid contracts to mostly what we call private equity hedge funds,” Tobe said.

Publication Date: 31 August 2021

Publication Site: CBS Chicago

Chicago Police Pension Forensic Audit Ends With Disturbing Findings

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsiedle/2021/09/03/chicago-police-pension-forensic-audit-ends-with-disturbing-findings/

Excerpt:

This week, the Chicago Police Department Pension Board Accountability Group—comprised of retired and active Chicago police officers and their dependents— released the scathing findings of a forensic audit of the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund. The Group hired an outside expert to conduct the forensic audit after the pension refused their request to do so on its own.

In a September 2, 2021 statement on the police pension’s website it was stated:

“Recently, certain annuitants, without asserting any wrongdoing on the part of the Fund, any Fund employee, or any Board Trustee, past or current, and in fact repeatedly acknowledging no wrongdoing or fraudulent conduct has occurred, have demanded the Board contract with another entity to conduct a desired independent forensic audit. The purpose of a forensic audit is in substance to conduct an investigation as a means of discovering potential fraud, wrongdoing, or other financial crimes. Given that no legitimate cause for this type of audit exists, it is not a prudent use of Fund resources to engage with an additional auditor to perform a forensic audit.”

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According to the report, CPABF is one of the worst funded public pension plans in the U.S. today with a funding ratio at year-end of only 23%. That fact alone merits an independent investigation, in my opinion. And, by the way, forensic investigations of pensions are not necessarily focused upon “potential fraud, wrongdoing or financial crimes.”

Author(s): Edward Siedle

Publication Date: 3 September 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

Twisted Priorities — Preliminary Findings of Forensic Investigation, Police Benefit Annuity Fund of Chicago

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: http://www.christobe.com/reports/twisted-priorities/

Excerpt:

The Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund (PABF) – commonly referred to as the “Chicago Police Pension Fund” is one of the worst funded public pension plans in the U.S. today and in U.S. history. Its funding ratio as of today is only 23%.

It is also so damaged by a total lack of transparency that it puts the interest of Wall Street & Chicago Investment Managers over its own current and retired officers. PABF has hidden $10s of millions in investment fees, while denying payment for a disabled officer’s wheelchair.

Retired Chicago Police Officer Rosemarie Giambalvo initiated the call for a complete forensic audit of the Chicago Police Pension fund in February 2020 seeking full transparency and accountability. Rosemarie also founded the CPD Pension Board Accountability Group consisting of over 2600 retired, widows, and active officers who signed two petitions calling for the audit. Rosemarie was told during the February 2020 Pension Board meeting that, “whoever wants an audit must pay for it?” One trustee then stated, “it would cost $20,000”. Rosemarie notified the group members and within two weeks raised the full $20,000 from the group to pay for the audit costing the pension board nothing. Justin Kugler stated, “he didn’t care how much money they raised, we will not consent to a forensic audit!” After the elected trustees refused to address the concerns of their underfunded pensions (22% in 2020), the group agreed to hire myself Christopher Tobe, a Forensic Investigator to which I began the forensic audit report upon being hired by Rosemarie Giambalvo and the group.

The board and staff of the Chicago Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund (PABF) have gone out of their way to conceal and block information for this report. They illegally denied most of our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests only providing small amounts of information which should have been previously disclosed on the web page.

Regardless, we have come up with a report that can have an impact by providing more transparency and accountability for the operations of the fund.

PDF of paper: http://www.christobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/PABFforensicaudit.pdf

Author(s): Chris Tobe

Publication Date: 31 August 2021

Publication Site: ChrisTobe.com

Mismanagement Compounding Underfunding: The Chicago Police Pension Forensic Audit

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ebauer/2021/09/06/mismanagement-compounding-underfunding-the-chicago-police-pension-forensic-audit/

Excerpt:

It is reasonably well-known that the pension plan has been underfunded for years, and that the state, in setting a new funding plan, allowed a “funding ramp” in 2011 and then re-set that ramp in 2016, so that funding according to the “90% funded by 2055” target only began in 2020. However, Tobe alleges that “Chicago has consistently underfunded the plan more than the statutory amount, blatantly breaking the law, with no consequences.”

Regarding fees and management, Tobe alleges that the pension fund has “failed to monitor and fully disclose investment fees and expenses” and that “fees and expenses could be 10 times that which they disclose” because the fund’s disclosure “omits dozens of managers and their fees.” He also reports that the Fund claimed that “hundreds of contracts for the investment managers” are exempt from FOIA, and denied him access to the fund’s own analysis of fees. He concludes that “PABF may have over 100 ‘ghost managers’ in funds of funds,” that is, the fund is required to disclose its managers but it fails to do so, even though Tobe has identified them through other sources.

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With respect to governance, the fund violates a fundamental aspect of prudent governance because its Chief Investment Officer is not a professional with qualification in the field, but simply a trustee and active-duty policeman, and, what’s more, one who has “22 allegations of misconduct as a police officer including one for bribery/official corruption.” Further, no staff members hold the credential of a CFA charter, another marker of professionalism. Another related governance issue is the use of offshore investments, e.g., in the Cayman Islands, which lack key governance and transparency protections of US-based funds.

Author(s): Elizabeth Bauer

Publication Date: 6 September 2021

Publication Site: Forbes

One chart tells you much about Chicago’s property tax and its pensions – Wirepoints Quickpoint

Mary Pat Campbell
One chart tells you much about Chicago’s property tax and its pensions – Wirepoints Quickpoint

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The above is only for taxes that fund the city’s main operating account — its Corporate Fund. Property tax bills in the city include separate charges for the school district and other overlapping taxing districts.

Also, since money is fungible, it’s a bit arbitrary for the city to budget a portion of the property tax to pensions. The city has other revenue sources, though the property tax is the biggest.

Still, the chart makes the point everybody should know: Pensions are a huge and growing crisis. They are the 800-pound gorilla in the room — for Chicago, the state and most of its municipalities.

Author(s): Mark Glennon

Publication Date: 19 August 2021

Publication Site: Wirepoints

Biden’s Covid vaccine push crashes into reality

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/07/biden-covid-vaccine-push-498479

Excerpt:

After falling short of its goal of administering at least one dose of the vaccine to 70 percent of adults by July 4th (it reached 67 percent) the White House is now turning its attention to the toughest populations in the country. That includes places like barber shops in Englewood, which are part of the “Shots at the Shops” effort by the White House. It’s also sending “surge teams” to some of the lowest vaccinated spots in the country, enlisting trusted messengers like church leaders to go door-to-door. And they’ll add mobile vaccination units at places like music festivals, sporting events or neighborhoods with low vaccination rates.

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It’s all in an effort to target the stubbornly resistant, or hard-to-reach populations as fear grows that the virus could reemerge thanks to the highly contagious Delta variant.

Much of the coverage of those populations has focused on Trump supporters who have resisted vaccination as a matter of political identity. And data show that vaccination rates do tend to overlap with partisan leanings. But there are other hard-to-reach communities, including young people, Black and minority groups that traditionally vote Democratic.

Author(s): Natasha Korecki

Publication Date: 7 July 2021

Publication Site: Politico

The State of Health for Blacks in Chicago

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/cdph/CDPH/Healthy%20Chicago/CDPH_BlackHealth7c_DIGITAL.pdf

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Leading causes of death among Blacks differ by sex. Among Black males, homicide and accidents (such as drug overdoses and motor vehicle accidents) combined make up almost as many deaths as deaths due to cancer. Stroke and kidney disease cause higher proportion of deaths among Black females compared to males and non-Blacks.

Author(s): Chicago Department of Public Health

Publication Date: June 2021

Publication Site: City of Chicago

Black life expectancy gap in Chicago continues to get worse, report finds

Mary Pat Campbell

Link: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/6/15/22535760/black-life-expectancy-gap-state-health-blacks-chicago

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Black Chicagoans are expected to live more than nine years less than non-Black residents — and that gap in life expectancy is only growing, according to a report released Tuesday.

The report by the Chicago Department of Public Health presents a grim but unsurprising outlook on how inequities in housing, income, access to healthy food and trauma have contributed to the disparity in the city.

From 2012 to 2017, the life expectancy gap between Black residents and non-Black residents grew from 8.3 years to 9.2 years, the report found.

Black Chicagoans on average live 71.4 years while non-Black residents live 80.6 years. While non-Blacks saw their life expectancy drop by more than three months in those five years, life expectancy dropped for Blacks by more than 14 months. The report cites five main factors: chronic diseases, homicide, infant mortality, opioid overdoses and HIV, flu or other infections.

Author(s): Manny Ramos

Publication Date: 15 June 2021

Publication Site: Chicago Sun-Times