L.A. council hires firm to defend suit by ex-pension appointee

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to spend up to $50,000 to respond to a lawsuit filed against the city by one of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s top pension appointees.

Sean Harrigan, president of the Fire and Police Pensions Board from 2006 to 2009, is demanding that the city reimburse him for legal bills that he racked up after he was swept up in pension probes by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the state attorney general’s office.

The SEC sent Harrigan a letter in 2009 seeking records on his private financial matters, including any income he received above $10,000 while on the pension board, which oversees a $14-billion investment portfolio. The agency also asked him to disclose any money or "material benefits" that he received from companies that did business with L.A.'s public safety pension agency.

The council voted 12 to 0 to hire an outside law firm in the Harrigan case. Councilman Dennis Zine said he is not happy about hiring an outside firm and asserted that Harrigan stepped down in response to allegations of "improprieties" by pension board members. "It bugs me a lot because we’re spending taxpayer money" to respond to Harrigan’s lawsuit, Zine said.