Brown
SACRAMENTO (Legal Newsline) - California Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown says he plans to release details of his pension benefits when he receives them from the state.
Brown made the pledge to reporters on Tuesday, before attending a Sacramento-area fundraiser, according to The Associated Press.
Questions about Brown's pension arose earlier this month when the Orange County Register reported that Legislators' Retirement System records showed the only active member with Brown's age and pay level was credited with 25 to 29 years of service.
If that person was, in fact, Brown, the extra nine or more years of service would've meant he would receive more benefits than he was entitled to.
Brown's campaign has said he would receive two pensions totaling more than $78,000 a year if he were to start drawing from California's retirement systems next year.
Should he be elected to a third term as governor, he would receive slightly more, his office has said.
Brown campaign spokesman Sterling Clifford recently told the Fresno Bee the pension figure -- $78,450 to be exact -- stems from 16 years of service credit with the LRS, including eight years as governor, four years as secretary of state and four years as attorney general.
Brown also has accumulated 9.2 years of service with the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or CalPERS, from his eight years as mayor of Oakland and 1.2 years clerking at the state Supreme Court, Clifford told the Bee. CalPERS administers the LRS system.
His campaign has yet to provide detailed records.
Brown says California taxpayers won't have to pay him a pension next year if he is elected governor.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Jessica Karmasek by e-mail at jessica@legalnewsline.com.