By Thomas Jones,
President, American Accountability Foundation
Idaho is a state of hardworking men and women with common-sense conservative values. So why is their government using their tax-dollars to force a woke agenda in America?
Like most pension systems, the Public Employee Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI) has hired asset managers to help them maximize returns on their investments. PERSI uses Adelante, AllianceBernstein, Brandes, Fiera Capital, Longview, and Mellon for several functions, including proxy voting on PERSI’s behalf at shareholder meetings. But instead of focusing on good corporate governance and maximizing returns for PERSI’s beneficiaries, these asset managers have taken it upon themselves to make America woke, including by strangling American energy, pushing woke racial quotas, and cutting off funding for conservative causes and politicians.
Sadly, research by the American Accountability Foundation has found that in the past few years these managers have roped PERSI into their ESG schemes. Here are a few examples:
- In June 2023, AllianceBernstein voted on PERSI’s behalf in support of a resolution to “oversee and report on a racial equity audit” at Comcast Corporation.
- At the Chevron annual shareholder meeting on May 25, 2022, Mellon Capital voted on PERSI’s behalf in favor of a resolution to “adopt medium-and long-term [greenhouse gas] reduction targets.”
- At the June 2023 annual shareholder meeting of Alphabet, two of PERSI’s asset managers – Brandes and Longview – voted on PERSI’s behalf in favor of a resolution calling for a “report on risks from abortion-related information requests.” This shareholder resolution derided the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision as “the revocation of the constitutional right to an abortion.”
The people of Idaho never voted for these policies, yet that is what their state’s government is pushing. State bureaucrats running PERSI are allowing woke ESG asset managers to subvert the will of the people and impose a radical left-wing agenda that is a threat to American jobs and contrary to American values.
Idaho’s leaders must take immediate action and either dump these managers or make it clear to them that they can never again vote for woke resolutions on the state’s behalf.
Download the full report here:
The American Accountability Foundation is a non-profit government oversight and research organization that uses investigative tools to educate the public on issues related to personnel, policy, and spending. Visit their website to learn more.
