Who's pulling Jon Husted's strings? Divestiture and Ohio's public pension monies

From John Curry, February 11, 2008

"As his bill [Josh Mandel's bill mandating divesture by Ohio's five public pension systems, including STRS] made its way through the various committees, Mandel's initiative received a body blow from an unexpected direction. AIPAC representatives asked him to pare down his bill's divestment requirements to include only companies that invest more than $20 million in Iran's oil and gas sector."

Click here or on link below to view full article.

AIPAC's mystifying behavior
A "must read" for all STRS members, senior staff and Board

http://www.israelenews.com/view.asp?ID=1019

Remember last fall when Ohio House Speaker Jon Husted gathered all five executive directors of Ohio's public pension systems together and "brokered" a deal with them re. the modified list of "nasty" companies who purportedly were doing business with terrorist countries? These directors then quickly signed the paper and agreed to move forward with the process of divestiture. All this was done despite the Ohio Retirement Study Council's displeasure with the entire divestiture process. The Ohio Police and Fire Retirement System is still offering some resistance to this brokered deal but they are also doing it under the fear that Husted will pull HB 151 out of committee and unleash forced divestiture of the hundreds of "nasty" companies on ALL of Ohio's pension systems instead of a listing of just a few dozen energy related companies.

Now comes the question: From where does Husted get his guidance and direction for this modified list of companies to divest from and who is pulling HIS strings? The whole concept of HB 151 was painted as a patriotic move to put the financial crunch on terrorists, wasn't it? Remember, Husted is term-limited out in the Ohio House and plans to run for the Ohio Senate....campaign funds would certainly come in handy for him, wouldn't they?

Well, let's see how Husted's desire to pare down the extensive list of companies seems to coincide with a larger movement which, surprisingly (or maybe not), is doing the same thing. Is this strictly coincidence or....is someone else pulling Husted's strings? The article below might just explain this! Please click on the link below. After reading the article I think it is fair for you to ask yourself the question: "Are our retirement fund monies just political pawns in an international chess game?" You might also want to ask why this mandatory divestment(HB 151 or Husted's modified version) does not apply to stock ownership of these same companies by banks, investment houses, and private individuals! Is it now time to challenge Husted's "bluff?" Retirees, does the term AIPAC sound familiar to you? ..... it now should!

John Curry

http://www.israelenews.com/view.asp?ID=1019