One of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s former pension board appointees has been named to a key seat overseeing the Department of Water and Power, even as that utility is in the middle of a protracted dispute over electricity rates.
Eric Holoman, president of Magic Johnson Enterprises, was named by the mayor to fill the DWP board seat vacated last month by Edith Ramirez, an attorney who recently joined the Federal Trade Commission.
The nomination of Holoman comes as Villaraigosa and the City Council are in a standoff over utility rates. The DWP announced that it would not transfer $73.5 million to the city’s cash-strapped budget unless it receives the first of four planned rate hikes. In response, council members proposed a ballot measure to reduce the number of DWP board members who can be selected by the mayor.
Villaraigosa said in a statement that Holoman’s arrival would usher in “a new era of accountability and transparency” at the nation’s largest municipal utility. Meanwhile, Holoman promised that he would keep rates as low as possible “while ensuring that the DWP continues to invest in green energy and creates jobs in Los Angeles.”
Some council members, including Richard Alarcon and Paul Koretz, said they want a compromise that would end the rate deadlock, possibly as soon as Tuesday.
Holoman served until last year on the board of the Los Angeles City Employees’ Retirement System, which oversees the pension benefits for 45,000 active and retired civilian employees. He stepped down from that volunteer post after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law that places new limits on private financial work performed by publicly appointed pension board members.
The law bars pension board members throughout the state from selling, directly or indirectly, investment products to any other public retirement system in California.
Holoman still must be confirmed by the City Council.
— David Zahniser at Los Angeles City Hall