Former City Officials Close Ranks in Court

SAN DIEGO - Former City Manager Michael Uberuaga and five other witnesses invoked their Fifth Amendment rights at a court hearing in the San Diego pension scandal on Monday. Prosecutors called the witnesses to give evidence in the preliminary hearing on conflict-of-interest charges against six former pension board members.

Also refusing to testify were former city auditor Ed Ryan and Loraine Chapin, the pension fund's chief legal adviser, as well as John Casey, David Crow and Ray Garnica, three former pension board members who are not charged in the case.

Judge Frederic L. Link rejected Crow's refusal to testify since Crow was granted immunity from prosecution in the case. Casey and Garnica may also be compelled to testify on the same grounds.

Attorneys for the witnesses failed in their attempt to close the hearing to the public. They asked Link to keep the information from becoming public. Council for the six former pension board members charged in the case supported the request, but the judge refused, finding no legal reason to deny public access to the testimony.

Uberuaga, who stated his name but refused to answer basic questions about his tenure with the city, retired in April 2004, three months after the Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Attorney's Office revealed their investigation of the city's handling of the pension fund. Under his leadership, the City Manager's office instituted a controversial policy, known as Manager's Proposal 2, which allowed the city to delay making its full payment to the pension system. Uberuaga's attorney, Robert J. Lauchlan, fielded all further questions.

Only one defense attorney objected to Uberuaga's refusal to testify. Nick Hanna, representing Cathy Lexin, said Uberuaga "has substantial exculpatory information."

Few legal experts were surprised by the former officials' invocation of their Fifth Amendment rights, though their refusal to testify is a setback for prosecutors, who must present sufficient evidence to the court to merit a trial.

Those present and former city employees charged in the case are accused of receiving improper benefits, namely increases in the values of their pensions, as a result of their votes as pension board members.

Those facing charges are: Cathy Lexin, former human resources director; Ron Saathoff, a fire captain and president of the San Diego City Firefighters Local 145 union; John Torres, a fingerprint analyst; Terri Webster, former acting auditor; Mary Vattimo, former city treasurer; and Sharon Wilkinson, a management analyst.

The defendants' attorneys have made the argument that their clients only agreed to the underfunding plan in their November 2002 votes, and that the pension increases had already been established months earlier as a result of contract negotiations between the city and city employees.

In a statement he made on Monday, City Attorney Michael Aguirre called for Chapin's dismissal as legal advisor to the pension fund, saying "It is impossible to maintain the confidence of pensioners in the pension system with an attorney who can't even discuss pension-fund related activities in a courtroom without asserting her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination."