Politician Pleitez Gets Role on Police, Fire Pension Board

By City News Service

A Los Angeles City Council committee Monday signed off on the appointment  of the fifth-place finisher in the March mayoral primary to the Board of Fire and Police Pension Commissioners.

"I'm excited to be here and to take this awesome responsibility to be on the commission for our biggest pension fund in the city of Los Angeles and one of the bigger ones across the country," Emanuel Pleitez told the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee, which approved his appointment on a 3-0 vote.

Pleitez's appointment by Mayor Eric Garcetti to the nine-member board must now be voted on by the full City Council.

The 30-year-old former Goldman Sachs financial analyst finished fifth in the eight-candidate primary with 4.1 percent of the vote. He endorsed Garcetti in the runoff election.

During his own campaign, Pleitez ran on a platform that included a buyout plan to give employees the opportunity to take out their retirement benefits now, rather than later, presumably saving the city money.

Addressing a question Monday about what he would do about unfunded pension liability, Pleitez backed away from his buyout idea, but said he would be "open to things that may not have been considered in the past."

Pleitez, who earned a bachelor of arts degree in Urban Studies from Stanford University, said he would be joining the commission with "no particular agenda" and would first look at what is already being done in the police and fire employee pension system.

Pleitez chairs the Hispanic Heritage Foundation and previously served as chief strategy officer for tech company Spokeo. He has also done stints in the federal government as a staffer in the U.S. Department of the Treasury and as a member of the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.

Prior to running for mayor, Pleitez finished third in the five-candidate field in the 2009 special election in the 32nd Congressional District to replace Hilda Solis when she resigned to become secretary of labor.