Scoring Calpers.

It's been an intense year for Calpers' Sean Harrigan.

In its campaign to improve corporate governance, the giant state pension fund has taken on Richard Grasso, the former chairman of the New York Stock Exchange; Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Michael Eisner; and a slew of corporate board members, most notably Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Warren Buffett, who is also a director of Coca-Cola Co. and sits on its audit committee.

In several instances, the California Public Employees' Retirement System came out on top. Harrigan, meeting with Business Journal editors last week, pointed out that the highly paid Grasso is gone from the NYSE, and Calpers is happy with many of the reforms that the institution has since undergone.

Likewise, Disney's board has set a short timetable for Eisner's departure. Calpers has dogged Disney directors to become more independent, and it was a leader in the fight that ultimately led to Eisner being replaced as chairman by former Sen. George Mitchell.

"I think George is doing a good job," Harrigan said, noting that the board has consulted institutional investors, including Calpers, on Eisner's departure. "I think they wanted to become a better company."

But it was the accounting fight, in which the highly regarded Buffett pooh-poohed Calpers' efforts to promote auditor independence as "silly," that put the pension fund on the defensive.

The criticism led Calpers to review its litmus-test approach, a review that is ongoing. While changes are being considered, Harrigan said he's not dissatisfied with the first-year results of the campaign. "The fact that it got so much attention isn't all so bad," said Harrigan, president of the Calpers Board of Administration.

Calpers' upcoming priorities are health care and a proposal to allow investors to nominate company shareholders. Calpers, a huge consumer of health care on behalf of its pension plan members, supports Proposition 72, the ballot initiative that would require California employers to provide mandatory health care coverage to their workers.

Harrigan, a longtime official with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, also reflected on the four-month strike/lockout between grocery workers and supermarkets in Southern California, which ended with an agreement mostly on the employers' terms.

Harrigan pointed out that expenses were huge on each side--the union spent $100 million alone--the work force is unhappy, and relations with management have been seriously damaged.

"(Safeway Chairman and Chief Executive) Steve Burd has been saying this was a huge victory for the industry," Harrigan said. "I happen to believe it was a huge failure for all of us."