Brochures and agendas The Examiner obtained for the city?s pension fund conference, as well as others attended by both Employees Retirement System board members and their investment advisers, featured registration discounts, liquor, tickets to professional sporting events, and a wine tasting.
Attendees were offered “first- class food, drinks and a chance to see the San Francisco 49ers play the Arizona Cardinals” at the IIR?s Public Fund Board Forum, which was sponsored by the Bank of Ireland Asset Management.
The “trustees tailgate party,” as it was billed, was said to be courtesy of the “tailgate sponsors” and featured an “opportunity to visit with board members, public pension fund staff and advisors from across the country,” according to the Web site.
Discounting for public pension fund managers appears to be common practice. A popup advertisement on the Web site of the “5th Annual Public Funds Summit,” a conference attended by municipal pension board members, though not by the ERS, advises pension board members to “call for 30 percent hotel discount on hotel[s].” Meanwhile, minutes obtained by The Examiner of the San Francisco Employees? Retirement System meeting, The World Pension Forum ? which sponsored several conferences attended by Baltimore?s ERS board members ? attempted to pay “part of the expenses” for a San Francisco employee?s trip to India.
The World Pension forum, a sponsor of several overseas conferences attended by ERS board members, advertised extra amenities “after the formalities end.” Options ranged “from a dinner at the Chateau de Versailles to a walk on the Great Wall of China, to a reception at Dublin Castle,” the Web site told prospective attendees.
