Allan Fung | Pension360

Pensions Make For Interesting Politics In Rhode Island Gubernatorial Race As Unions Pick Sides

In Rhode Island’s gubernatorial race, pensions have muddied the waters of union politics. Gina Raimondo (D) is the one wielding union endorsements. But her opponent, Allan Fung (R), might have union voters on his side regardless.

Almost two-dozen unions have publicly endorsed Raimondo even though she rubbed public workers the wrong way when she froze COLAs and made other changes to the pension system in 2011.

Her challenger, Allan Fung (R), has won no union endorsements. But he’s more popular among union voters. From the Wall Street Journal:

Anger over pension cuts for state employees is driving many union voters in Rhode Island to cross party lines and back a Republican for governor, one of several midterm races roiled by battles over public pensions.

Democrat Gina Raimondo, Rhode Island’s treasurer, spearheaded legislation in 2011 to rein in public-employee pension obligations. Rancor over the move was still strong among union voters in a poll earlier this month, in which they favored Republican candidate Allan Fung over Ms. Raimondo, 42% to 30%; among all those surveyed she led by six points. A poll out Tuesday by Brown University found the race essentially tied.

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Ms. Raimondo in Rhode Island said she understands public employees have “hard feelings” over the 2011 pension changes, which halted annual cost-of-living raises for retirees and forced certain state workers and teachers to move a portion of their retirement savings into 401(k)-style accounts.

“We always knew there could be political consequences, but it was clearly the right thing to do,” she said in an interview. “The good news is the pension system is healthier than it’s ever been. For teachers and state employees, the pension will actually be there for them.”

Mr. Fung also pushed through pension changes as mayor of Cranston, R.I., though they were less aggressive. He said union members who back him aren’t doing so merely to oppose Ms. Raimondo. He has played down a prior comment that he supported right-to-work laws, which forbid labor contracts that require union membership by workers. “The unions are there, and under my administration they’ll always have a seat across the table,” Mr. Fung said in an interview.

Broad labor support for Mr. Fung is striking because he has won no endorsements from unions, while Ms. Raimondo has garnered about two dozen endorsements, mostly from private-sector unions not affected by the state pension changes.

A list of unions that have endorsed Raimondo, according to her campaign website:

Bricklayers’ and Allied Craftsmen Local 3

Ironworkers’ Local 37

Plumbers’ & Pipefitters’ Local 51

Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ Local 40

Roofers’ and Waterproofers’ Local Union No. 33

Sprinkler Fitters Local 669

Operating Engineers’ Local 57

Sheet Metal Workers Local 17

United Steelworkers Local 12431

Elevator Constructors Local 39

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 328

SEIU 1199 NE

IUPAT District Council 11

IBEW Local 99

32BJ SEIU

UNITE HERE Local 217

Carpenters Local 94

UWUA Local 310

Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 618

Raimondo, Fung Fight Over Pension Funding, Fees

Allan Fung, Rhode Island’s Republican candidate for governor, released an ad last week slamming his opponent Gina Raimondo for paying “high fees” for “poor returns” on pension investments.

[The ad can be viewed above.]

Raimondo’s campaign issued the following statement refuting Fung’s claims and accusing Fung of mismanaging Cranston’s pension system:

“Allan Fung is recycling the same tired, misleading attacks on Gina that Rhode Islanders have already rejected. Everything Gina has done as Treasurer is to protect workers’ pensions. The fact is, Gina’s investment strategy is working and is providing strong returns with less risk.”

“In contrast, as mayor, Fung has failed to make full payments to the Cranston pension system and is proposing that we actually default on a debt the state owes. That’s reckless, risky and will hurt taxpayers,” she said of his stance on the 38 Studios bonds.

She cited annual financial reports indicating that the city never paid more than 87 percent of its required pension contribution the first four budget years Fung was mayor.

Fung’s spokesman responded to that attack with a subsequent statement:

“Cranston’s locally administered pension plan had been severely underfunded for years before Allan was elected mayor. … He increased contribution levels and negotiated a responsible pension reform plan,” and is “proud of the fact” the city budgets have had enough money to make full payment the last two fiscal years.

The Raimondo campaign has previously acknowledged that the pension system’s investment fees totaled $70 million in fiscal year 2012-13. Around $45 million of those fees were from hedge funds.

The Raimondo campaign has also clarified that the pension system’s hedge fund investments returned 8.8 percent in 2013. The system’s overall portfolio, meanwhile, returned 15 percent.

Rhode Island Gov. Candidate Allan Fung Is A Pension Reformer, Too

By now, everyone knows about Gina Raimondo’s track record on pensions. Despite the controversy surrounding her 2011 reform efforts and subsequent investment strategies, she made pensions a central facet of her campaign for governor.

Her Republican opponent, Allan Fung, is now taking up a similar strategy. Fung, currently the Mayor of Cranston, has this week begun touting his own record of pension reform. From Public Sector Inc:

Like Raimondo, Fung, who served on a reform panel that helped craft the 2011 state pension changes, has been an ardent backer of trimming pensions to make them more affordable. The difference is that the media hasn’t seemed to consider that such an unusual story for a Republican politician. Raimondo, by contrast, has benefited from a barrage of stories hailing her as a Democrat willing to take on public employees and their unions.

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Cranston’s current employees participate in the state’s retirement system, so the city had a stake in the state-engineered reforms. But Cranston fire and police retirees and those workers who were hired before July 1, 1995 participate in a separate city-directed plan that was deeply in debt . Although the plan has just 483 members, the vast majority of which were already retired, the plan was so expensive that it cost the city $22.3 million to support this year, amounting to 20 percent of the city’s operating budget, excluding its school system.

Earlier this year Fung struck a deal with the majority of plan members to suspend cost of living adjustments and to cap any future COLA’s at 3 percent. The deal is expected to save Cranston about $6 million a year for a plan that was so expensive that the city began winding it down in 1995. When Fung took office in 2008 the pension system had just 15 percent of the assets on hand necessary to pay its current liabilities, and Fung warned beneficiaries that a day could come when the fund went bankrupt. Now the system is on track to be fully funded, but it will take two decades.

Cranston is also saving money because Fung struck a deal to place new city employees in a 401(k) style defined contribution plan.

A side note: this election will be a historic one for Rhode Island no matter who wins. Raimondo is vying to become the first woman governor in the state’s history. Fung, meanwhile, would be the first Asian elected to that office.

Photo credit: “Mayor Allan Fung visits Providence” by Office of Mr. Fung. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons