Moore: It’s hard out here for a Treasurer
So a couple weeks ago, Forbes took aim at State Treasurer Richard Moore, claiming he’s not doing a good job managing the state’s pension fund and oh-by-the-way takes campaign contributions from the folks he does business with.
For local background on this, let me recommend the Charlotte Observer’s Richard Moore page.
Then, this week, the Wall Street Journal says North Carolina has one of the best managed pension funds. From a Moore press release:
The fund, managed by State Treasurer Richard Moore, is one of only five in the nation with a positive funding ratio – the necessary resources to cover promised benefits. North Carolina’s pension fund has a funding ratio of 106.5 percent, compared to a national average of 81.8 percent. Since 2000, the national average has dropped from just over 100 percent to around 82 percent, while North Carolina has retained its strong funding status.
Will the real Richard Moore please stand up?
Well, in fact, Moore did do a presentation with us scruffy media types today and basically said that the Forbes story was a load-of-you-know-what and did his best to prove it. Notes, slides and audio from the news conference:
- Click here for the slides from Moore’s presentation. (PDF)
- I’m not going to try to upload audio of Moore’s whole presention, but click here to get his overview and a taste of the first few minutes.
- So . . . did Forbes get it wrong? Moore’s answer: “Absolutely. . . In my opinion, Forbes had an axe to grind.” Click here for audio of that answer. (2 minutes)
- So what about limiting campaign donations to the state treasurer’s office, as proposed by a House committee? “I would be open to it, but I would want it to be more inclusive. I see absolutely no reason for singling this office out.” Click here for audio of that answer. (2 minutes)
- Okay, your investments seem to doing well enough. But one could say you’ve expanded the number of fund managers, at the same time expanding the number of folks who give to your campaign. “My response to that is $4.2 billion.” Click here to hear that question asked and answered.
- So explain the fact that a lot of your donors are folks you do business with. Click here to hear that question asked and answered. “You campaign contributors are people you are in contact with in many instances . . . I think all politicians raise money from the environment that they’re in.”
- So, why doesn’t North Carolina’s annual report on its pensions system have more detail? “We simply have not had the resources to do it?” Click here to hear that question asked and answered.
- “We drive a very hard bargain on our fees.” Click here to hear more about that.
Update: Gov. Mike Easley has been reading to grade-school kids today and stopped to visit a class in Greensboro. Our education reporter, Morgan Josey, got a chance to ask him a few questions, including one about the Moore. She reported that Easley said he had heard about the stories but not read any of them.
“I don’t have enough information to see whether there’s any kid of a conflict,” Easley said.