Free Speech, State Pensions, and Petroleum
FREE SPEECH LAWSUIT FOR INVESTORS, CITIZENS – HANS BADER & JOHN BERLAU
CEI.org: Bulldog Investors v. Massachusetts
The Competitive Enterprise Institute this week filed an amicus brief in support of hedge fund Bulldog Investors and free speech rights. Bulldog is suing the state of Massachusetts for violating the company’s First Amendment free speech rights after the state filed an administrative complaint against the company for responding to a citizen’s request for information. Following an adverse ruling by the state supreme court, the case is now on appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
LABOR – TREY KOVACS
For two decades, overseers of California’s state employee pension funds have placed ideological agendas ahead of investment returns. This has cost pensioners dearly, for no good reason. Thus, the pension board members appear to be in dereliction of their fiduciary duty to gain the best possible returns for the funds on which so many depend for their retirement. The managers of CalPERS and California State Teachers’ Retirement System – CalSTRS – have engaged in a politically motivated investing strategy that has put California government workers’ pensions at undue risk. .>Read the full commentary on ocregister.com
ENERGY – DAVID BIER
Strategic Petroleum Reserve: A Hedge against Economic Illiteracy
Reps. Peter King (D-NY), Ed Markey (D-MA), and Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) have written President Obama urging him to release oil from the U.S. government’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) in order to help drive down high gas prices. Congressional Republicans are opposing the effort “to politicize” the SPR. Who’s right in this latest political squabble?