Attempts to spin Grayson’s work to eliminate taxpayer expenses for healthcare benefits for elected officials
Tim Grayson’s campaign for State Assembly released the following information about a TV ad produced by his opponent’s campaign which began airing, last week:
Mae Torlakson’s campaign for California Assembly District 14 released an ad Friday containing false and inaccurate information on former Mayor of Concord Tim Grayson’s work to eliminate local elected officials’ lifetime healthcare benefits.
The Claim:
The ad claims Grayson “voted to keep his taxpayer funded healthcare for life.”
The Facts:
- As Mayor of Concord, Grayson sought to eliminate lifetime taxpayer-funded healthcare benefits for Concord’s elected officials. A memo written by city staff in 2014 (attached) states that as Mayor, Grayson created an Ad Hoc committee and “gave direction to develop a method to eliminate elected officials retiree health benefits going forward.” The Mercury News covered Grayson’s efforts in a story on July 23, 2014.
- The city’s contracts with CalPERS and PEMHCA entirely prohibit the elimination of taxpayer funded healthcare benefits for elected officials.In the July 2014 memo city staff write that research indicated “that this desired outcome [eliminating lifetime benefits] is not possible based on the City’s contract with the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) and regulations in the Public Employees’ Medical and Hospital Care Act (PEMHCA).”
- As Mayor, Grayson was prohibited from eliminating these lifetime taxpayer funded healthcare benefits, so instead, he sought to “significantly limit eligibility for retiree medical benefits for incoming, newly elected officials by establishing stringent vesting and retirement age criteria.” (July 22, 2014 memo). Under the new rules, newly elected officials can only qualify for lifetime healthcare benefits if they serve a minimum of 30 consecutive years in Concord government as an elected official.
- Grayson does not qualify for lifetime healthcare retiree benefits.Current elected officials must be 50 years or older and serve five consecutive years as an Elected Official. Grayson is younger than 50 years old and does not qualify for the benefit. City documents also clearly show that CalPERS’ rules severely limited the ability to make changes to future officials’ healthcare benefits and prohibited these changes from applying to current councilmembers.
Bottom Line:
City documents clearly show that as Mayor, Grayson’s intent was to entirely eliminate lifetime taxpayer funded healthcare for Concord’s elected officials and now the Torlakson campaign is seeking to mislead voters with false information on Grayson’s record as Mayor.
“Mae Torlakson is spending BIG to try to mislead voters but the facts are clear. Tim Grayson worked to make it nearly impossible for any elected official to qualify and because of his work, Concord taxpayers will almost certainly never have to foot the bill for elected officials’ lifetime healthcare coverage,” said Grayson Campaign Manager, Naser Javaid. “To make matter worse, Mae Torlakson is lying about Grayson’s record all while enjoying taxpayer-funded Cadillac health care coverage valued at $20,000 a year from her work in Administrators’ offices at the University of California.”
BACKGROUND:
Additional False Claims from Torlakson’s ad:
The Claim: Grayson improperly accepted over $16,000 from lobbyists for the developer of the Concord Naval Weapons Station development.
Fact Check: Grayson returned the contributions once he became aware of their source. He also recused himself from the decision to select the developer.
Ad Script:
The Concord Naval Weapons Station development.
A $6 billion scandal inside city hall.
At the center of it, Assembly candidate Tim Grayson.
The same politician who voted to keep his taxpayer funded healthcare for life.
This time, Grayson was caught by an independent investigator
for attending secret illegal meetings on the deal
and improperly accepting over $16,000 from lobbyists for the developer.
The last thing the legislature needs is another ethically challenged member.
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