A report by the conservative watchdog group American Accountability Foundation found that several asset managers used Idaho residents' pension funds to support racial and climate change agendas in 2022 and 2023.

The Public Employees' Retirement System of Idaho (PERSI) used six asset management firms — Adelante Capital Management, AllianceBernstein, Brandes Investment Partners, Fiera Capital, Longview Partners and Mellon Capital Management — to manage more than $5 billion of the system's equity portfolio. According to These managers used Idaho residents' pension funds to support more than 150 environmental, social and governance (ESG) shareholder resolutions on issues including race, gender, climate and politics, AAF said in investment reports, according to documents obtained by AAF through a public records request and shared exclusively with the Daily Caller News Foundation. (Related story: Exclusive: Report finds Republican pension funds used to push anti-oil shareholder proposals)

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“Idahoans never voted for racial equity audits or curbing American energy, yet ESG asset managers are using Idaho pension funds to push these policies,” AAF President Thomas Jones told DCNF. “This is just another example of ESG trying to subvert the will of the American people and impose their extreme policies whether we like it or not.”

There were 153 examples of asset managers using PERSI funds to vote in favor of what watchdog groups call “woke” shareholder proposals, including “racial and gender pay gap reports, efforts to defund conservative candidates and pro-business trade groups, radical climate policies, and pro-abortion initiatives,” according to the AAF.

For example, AllianceBernstein used PERSI pension funds in 2023 to vote in favor of Comcast's proposed “racial equity audit,” which shareholders did not approve. SolutionThe bill, introduced by the Service Employees International Union Master Trust, advocates for “the board to oversee an independent racial equity audit that will analyze Comcast's adverse impacts on non-white stakeholders and communities of color and describe the steps, if any, Comcast plans to mitigate those impacts.”

AllianceBernstein will also be Solution They called on Wells Fargo to submit a “political contribution integrity report” to assess how well the bank's political contributions align with its corporate values ​​of supporting ESG. The proposal, which shareholders also rejected, specifically takes issue with Wells Fargo's support of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) and the Republican State Attorneys General Association (RAGA), which are opposed to ESG.

Mellon used its PERSI pension fund in 2022 to vote in support of a resolution calling for oil giant Chevron to announce goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and “limit global warming” in line with the Paris Climate Agreement. According to That same year, the asset manager used the system's funds to vote in favor of a resolution calling for AT&T to release a report on its political spending and how it aligned with the company's values, including being “carbon neutral.” According to A resolution by As You Sow, a nonprofit that assigns ESG scores to companies.

Shareholders ultimately did not approve the resolutions of Comcast, Wells Fargo and Chevron.

But melons are Solution He called for a “pay equity report” at The Walt Disney Company in 2022, which shareholders approved.

“Actively managing pay equity leads to greater representation, and diversity leads to superior stock performance and return on equity,” the report states. “Black employees make up 8% of Disney's workforce but only 5% of its executives. Women make up 51% of Disney's workforce and 42% of its executives.”

As of 2017, PERSI administers retirement and benefit plans for more than 65,000 public employees in Idaho. According to To the National Institute for Retirement Security.

“PERSI Fund (DB [defined benefit] A spokesperson for the state pension system told DCNF that “PERSI does not invest in funds with ESG mandates,” and that PERSI's “investment managers are responsible for exercising all votes in the sole interest of the plan and in a manner consistent with the plan's best economic interest.” According to in the system's investment policy statement.

But critics argue that ESG investing does not serve shareholders’ best fiduciary interests.

“It is outrageous that PERSI asset managers would use the wealth of Idaho workers and families to further their personal political objectives — even suggesting so is sufficient reason for termination. Asset managers should have only one objective, and that is to maximize the value of their managed assets following normal fiduciary guidelines,” J.D. Foster, an Idaho state economist and former chief economist for the Office of Management and Budget, told DCNF.

of S&P Global Clean Energy Index It will fall by about 10% in 2024. S&P 500 Energy IndexShares in the oil and gas-heavy stock index rose more than 7%.

Asset managers have used Nevada residents' pension funds to push similar proposals, DCNF previously reported, based on a separate public records request by AAF. The Nevada Public Employees Retirement System has partnered with asset managers including BlackRock, AllianceBernstein, Mellon and State Street Global Advisors, among others, to help it. Overall management More than $30 billion in the system's stock portfolio.

Adelante, AllianceBernstein, Brandes, Fiera, Longview and Iowa State Treasurer Julie Ellsworth did not respond to DCNF requests for comment.

Mellon declined to comment.

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