Tuesday, February 19, 2013

NY Times - David Chen - Bloomberg - Investments

On February 16, 2013 David Chen wrote an article in the NY Times about the NYC Teachers' Retirement System decision to divest itself of any investments in five gun companies.

The catch to the story was that the vote was 4 to 1. The opposition vote came from the a trustee appointed by the mayor.

Mr. Chen went on to state in his article that

"The mayor has long recused himself from any pension decisions because his company, Bloomberg L.P., does business with all the pension funds, his aides noted."

After over 11+ years in office this is the first time I have heard that mayor has had a long held policy of recusing himself from pension decisions.

Bloomberg L.P. does not do business with NYCERS and I suspect that is true for the other four city pension funds.

While the mayor is not a trustee of any of the five funds, his appointed representative at NYCERS has consistently voted on all resolutions voted on by the Board of Trustees. Again I suspect that is true at the other four funds.

My point is that Mr. Chen needs to do a little more homework when dealing with the mayor's office and pension issues.

It is ironic that Mayor Bloomberg's fortune has grown so well over the last 11+ years, while the city pension funds have struggled during his tenure in office.

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