What Is CalPERS Worried About?

We're not sure what to make of this report from the Sacramento Bee: in advance of next week's board meeting, CalPERS is installing metal detectors and x-ray scanning of all visitors to its headquarters in Sacramento. The pension fund is also contracting with the CHP for extra security and installing cameras in the auditorium where the board meets. All told, the new measures will cost CalPERS (in other words, us) $150,000 every year.

An internal memo gives no reason for the enhanced security measures, other than "the recommendations made by our security consultant". But it begs the question: why the lockdown, now? We like to joke about pitchforks and flaming torches when we talk about the insolvency of California's pensions, but in all seriousness, we would never advocate violence against the lame bureaucrats at CalPERS. (Nor would we expect that someone wielding a pitchfork could evade the existing security, but that's another matter.) But something tells us that libertarians are not what CalPERS is worried about. Insofar as serious pension reform is becoming a legitimate topic in California politics, and unionized public workers in Wisconsin and elsewhere have been willing to vandalize property and disrupt public hearings to further their cause, odds are they're more worried about the day when the labor unions start protesting pension reform.