When it comes to spending lavishly on trips out West as a Chicago Teacher Pension Trustee, VP Jacquelyne Price Ward takes the cake.
Trustee Price Ward racked up $23,779.55 in travel expenses when she attended numerous conferences in San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Dallas, NY, Tucson, Berkeley, New Orleans, Phoenix and San Diego. All within a two year period!
Second City Teachers asked the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund for an expense account of our Pension Trustees after Retired Trustee Mary Sharon Reilly questioned at an earlier Board Meeting why trustees would need to travel to far away places when they can attend local investment conferences and save the Pension Fund money.
Her words fell on deaf ears for many of the Trustees.
In second place was Teacher Trustee Philip Weiss who racked up $15,814.47. Weiss seemed to enjoy flying out West for conferences as much as his co-horts where he traveled to conferences in San Diego, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Scottsdale and Phoenix.
His fellow Trustee Victor Ochoa was in a tight third on conference expenses at $14,226.28, followed by President Jeffery Blackwell at $13,519.91, and Trustee Quentin Washington at $12,935.05.
Both CORE and Members First enjoyed racking up high costs on travel to the West Side of the United States. Were they traveling there to soak up the sun, surf and Hollywood glamour or listen to important investment seminars on the fiduciary responsibility of a trustee?
Even Retired Trustee Reilly who complained has traveled extensively in the past until recently due to personal reasons which she has expressed during Board meetings.
Weiss said he needed to travel to these places to network with other public pension funds.
But the travel policy needs to be reviewed and amended, said Retired Trustee Maria J. Rodriguez. She said she stays home because the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund is so poorly funded.
“We need to look at the policy because the funding is so low,” she said.
The CTPF is less than half funded at 46.8 percent and it does not seem to be going up despite the pension levy being restored. That is because Springfield legislators put off the date when the funding level should be restored to 2059, so they can keep racking up mounting bills that will overwhelm taxpayers when the due date hits.
According to the Fund’s records, Rodriguez was registered for a seminar in Chicago for $245 in 2021, while former Trustee Tina Padilla spent $3,981.34, Principal Trustee Jerry Travlos $1,110 and former CPS Board Trustee Dwayne Truss a mere $200 for a conference in Chicago.
Former Trustee Miguel del Valle’s name was omitted completely from the list and so was Trustee Mary Sharon Reilly’s name, although other fund records show she attended the Adams Street Conference earlier this year. Were all expenses recorded in my FOIA request, or were expenses omitted because receipts had not been submitted at the time of my request?
“I would complete my 8 hours of fiduciary education during the summer break,” Padilla said.
The Pension Board allows trustees to take three trips every year which must be voted on. Teacher Trustees are also allowed up to 22 days to be outside the classroom in order to attend to Pension Fund business. The Trustees decided to cut the number of committee meetings while keeping intact the number of days they can travel.
Business before Pleasure?
Or business mixed with pleasure?
There are money managers swarming like bees all over the Trustees to get a slice of the Fund’s $12 billion and they will do whatever it takes to make the deal. People say there have been trustees in the past who visited Gentlemen’s Clubs and high-end wine bars serving hundred dollar flaming cocktails.
The Trustees tastes for food and beverage on these trips are diverse - from $10 whoppers at the local Burger King to a frothy cold one at the Green Pig Pub in Salt Lake City.
It looks like President Blackwell enjoys seafood and liquor on the Pension Fund’s dime. He turned in receipts for the Bourbon Pub and the Franciscan Crab Restaurant in San Francisco, Deanies Seafood in New Orleans and the Green Pig Pub in Salt Lake City. He attended the Callan National Conference in San Fran the last week of April last year missing an entire week of classes.
CTPF VP Price Ward also spent a week in New Orleans to attend the Opal Group Conference in mid-February of this year. She stayed at the Royal Sonesta Hotel for $1577.87.
It looked like a lot of meal receipts were not turned into the Pension Fund for reinbursement.
Which leads to the question - who paid for their meals? If not the Fund, then was it the many money manager sales agents?
And we know, there are no free meals.