Akron Beacon Journal:
The state's five public employee pension systems will adopt policies aimed at dropping shares of companies that do business in Iran and Sudan, the systems said Thursday.
That was the deadline for the systems to respond to House Speaker Jon Husted's offer to kill legislation that would make such divestment mandatory if the systems agreed to give up half of their investments in such companies.
The systems said they would divest themselves of half of those investments by the end of the year and ultimately end the rest.
Husted, who had said he was optimistic that operators of the pension funds for police, firefighters, schoolteachers and other public employees would comply voluntarily, was reviewing the letter Thursday and had no comment, spokeswoman Karen Tabor said.
The funds had criticized the bill, sponsored by freshmen Republican Reps. Josh Mandel and Shannon Jones, as an attempt to drag their investments into politics. Mandel said his office found that four of the systems had investments totaling $1.1 billion in companies with links to Iran and Sudan. The fifth system, a fund for retired State Highway Patrol employees, had no such investments....
$1.1 billion dollars???? I wonder if Husted plans to cover the loss of over one billion dollars with his own personal money. As a person who has money in a state retirement system, I'll be watching and listening to what happen to my pension plan.
Husted has plans to run for higher office. However, his reputation as a bully and as an unkind person in his dealings with people (I was going to call him another word, but I changed my mind.), may ultimately alter his political plans. Ohioans don't like bullies.