This week, SFR asked whether public pension funds violate the free speech rights of public employees by investing in corporations that are also heavy political spenders.---
The money chain goes like this: a public employee makes mandatory contributions from her paycheck to the Public Employees Retirement Association. PERA hands money over to fund managers, who invest that money into various investment vehicles, one of them being corporate equity securities.
PERA's comprehensive financial report of 2011 lists its top ten stock holdings (page 85). SFR mentions a few of those organizations in the article, but here's the full list of them, juxtaposed with the political spending of those organizations, as listed on the nonpartisan opensecrets.org.
Organization Shares Market Value Lobbying Contributions
HSCB Holdings 3,304,791 $32,810,305 $2,440,000 $125,500 (PAC)
General Electric Co. 1,524,000 $28,742,640 $26,340,000 $1,887,772
Microsoft Corp. 1,145,528 $29,783,728 $7,335,000 $2,436,965
AT&T Inc. 860,424 $27,025,918 $20,230,000 $2,728,774
Nestle 605,022 $37,544,417 $3,880,400 $10,500 (PAC)
Exxon Mobil Corp. 604,045 $49,157,182 $12,730,000 $1,327,454
Procter & Gamble Co. 376,988 $23,965,127 $4,335,149 $246,750 (PAC)
Chevron Corp. 288,542 $29,673,659 $9,510,000 $695,067
IBM Corp. 158,890 $27,257,580 $4,850,000
Apple Inc. 113,700 $38,165,679 $2,260,000
Some notes on the data:
-Contributions represent money spent during the 2012 election cycle. Lobbying expenditures were made during the year 2011.
-If "PAC" is listed next to contributions, that means an organization wasn't listed on the Heavy Hitters list--a compilation of the "140 biggest givers in federal-level-politics since 1989" by opensecrets.org. Rather, the number represents contributions from the political action committee affiliated with the organization to federal candidates. The other numbers represent contributions from the organization's PAC and from individuals connected to the organization.
-IBM has a "long-standing policy not to make contributions of any kind."
-The Center for Political Accountability estimates Apple has spent $855,000 in corporate funds on political activities since 2002.
-PERA's funds are managed externally, meaning it does not decide to invest money in these organizations, although those investments are legally in PERA's name.
-In 2011, according to its financial report, corporate equity securities represented 22 percent of PERA's assets (page 82).
