Josh, take the "member directed" option...control your money, not ours!
From John Curry, 8/27/07
On HB 151: Drop Ball, Kick It, and Whine That You've Lost Your Ball
On HB 151: Drop Ball, Kick It, and Whine That You've Lost Your Ball
When HB 151, the Iran and Sudan divestment bill, hit the Ohio House floor yesterday, nothing much happened. The vote was pocketed so Speaker Husted could work out a deal with Ohio's major public employee pension funds.
See, the major pension funds aren't thrilled with the bill. Their charge, as they and thousands of retirees and pension contributors see it, is to maximize returns for pension holders, ensuring both income and health care benefits in retirement. Unfortunately, newly minted State Reps. Josh Mandel and Shannon Jones don't see it that way, but more as political football.
The compromise, reported here, would require the pension funds to divest 50% of the forbidden stock within six months and reach a full 100% divestment within...we don't know. Some nebulous and unspecified date.
Which means the bill, as introduced, has metastasized yet again. First, it included only stocks of companies doing business with Iran, a list that was well over 100 stocks. That number shrunk, but then companies doing business with Sudan was included, so the number grew.
At no time did Rep. Mandel or Rep. Jones, the bill's sponsors, indicate they'd like divestment in China, a country to strong ties to both forbidden varieties. Interesting. Now comes Speaker Husted's attempt to save face by passing a compromise that looks tough on terror but doesn't force the pensions to immediately sell off thousands upon thousands of shares.
Nothing against Husted, it's quite the box his Republican colleagues have constructed for him. Well, Husted could have nipped this a while ago, long before compromises and bill mutations. Yet Mandel, with the political savvy of a tool box, still isn't playing along [from the Willard piece]:
If the funds decide to abide by socially conscious investing principles on their own, after a vote of their members, then fine. It's their money. It's deducted, or previous has been, from their paychecks. That deduction is a contract between them and the fund managers, not Josh Mandel.
So while you run about playing Grand Master of Foreign Policy, a domain clearly belonging to the federal government and federal lawmakers, I'd ask you to go with the member directed option in OPERS or whatever system you're in. That way, you can control your money and stay away from international funds. Redhorse
See, the major pension funds aren't thrilled with the bill. Their charge, as they and thousands of retirees and pension contributors see it, is to maximize returns for pension holders, ensuring both income and health care benefits in retirement. Unfortunately, newly minted State Reps. Josh Mandel and Shannon Jones don't see it that way, but more as political football.
The compromise, reported here, would require the pension funds to divest 50% of the forbidden stock within six months and reach a full 100% divestment within...we don't know. Some nebulous and unspecified date.
Which means the bill, as introduced, has metastasized yet again. First, it included only stocks of companies doing business with Iran, a list that was well over 100 stocks. That number shrunk, but then companies doing business with Sudan was included, so the number grew.
At no time did Rep. Mandel or Rep. Jones, the bill's sponsors, indicate they'd like divestment in China, a country to strong ties to both forbidden varieties. Interesting. Now comes Speaker Husted's attempt to save face by passing a compromise that looks tough on terror but doesn't force the pensions to immediately sell off thousands upon thousands of shares.
Nothing against Husted, it's quite the box his Republican colleagues have constructed for him. Well, Husted could have nipped this a while ago, long before compromises and bill mutations. Yet Mandel, with the political savvy of a tool box, still isn't playing along [from the Willard piece]:
While Husted believes an agreement has been reached, one of the bill's sponsors and a pension plan representative aren't so sure.Let me humbly pose this to you Representative, at this point your constituents don't reside only in your district. Nope, you've now taken on representing the thousands of Ohioans, many more than comprise your district in whole, who are retirees from or contributors to Ohio's pension funds.
Mandel said he wants to see the letter first.
``I would have to think about it and talk about it with my constituents and my colleagues,'' Mandel said.
If the funds decide to abide by socially conscious investing principles on their own, after a vote of their members, then fine. It's their money. It's deducted, or previous has been, from their paychecks. That deduction is a contract between them and the fund managers, not Josh Mandel.
So while you run about playing Grand Master of Foreign Policy, a domain clearly belonging to the federal government and federal lawmakers, I'd ask you to go with the member directed option in OPERS or whatever system you're in. That way, you can control your money and stay away from international funds. Redhorse
posted by Kathie Bracy at 3:36 PM
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