Gov. Kim Reynolds says she won’t release more details into the circumstances surrounding the departures of two top leaders at Iowa’s largest public pension system following a misconduct investigation, telling reporters it is a personnel matter.
CEO Greg Samorajski resigned May 1, while Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System officials fired Chief Benefits Officer Steven Herbert on May 7. The departures come about five weeks after the governor and pensions officials suspended the leaders.
“It’s a personnel issue, so I’m not going to share a lot,” Reynolds told reporters at the Iowa Capitol on Monday, May 18. “I have shared, from the very beginning, that it had no impact whatsoever on the IPERS’ fund, and there were no criminal charges.”
IPERS, as of the end of last year, oversaw about $48 billion in assets for about 424,000 current and former state government, local government and public school employees.
IPERS General Counsel Elizabeth Hennessey is serving as the pension system’s acting CEO. Reynolds said she has directed the Iowa Department of Administrative Services to launch a national search and state officials will begin that process “immediately.”
Asked if there would be a point where Iowans would know more details surrounding the circumstances of the officials’ departures, Reynolds said, “Nope.”
House Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, in an episode of Iowa Press aired on Iowa PBS said he would like to see legislative Government Oversight Committees meet to look into the matter. But his understanding was that it was a human resources issue that didn’t appear to affect the fund.
“We really need to make sure that the fund is sound,” Meyer said. “And but I think having more oversight is always good. You know, I think that that’s a concern that we have when something like this happens and we didn’t know about it or that it may have been going on for a long time.”
House Speaker Pat Grassley, R-New Hartford, on a separate episode said his understanding was the Legislature has “nothing to be concerned about” when asked whether he feared the misconduct claims against top officials signaled a culture problem that could potentially affect the fund’s management.
“From our perspective, we have confidence that there’s health in the fund,” Grassley said. “And if there isn’t, then the Legislature should stand ready to act. But from what I’m aware of, I’m not I don’t think any of that is in jeopardy.”
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Kim Reynolds says she won’t share more on IPERS officials’ departures
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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