Skip to main contentPeople usually end up in this space because of something they've done. This week's inductees into the Hall of Shame are singled out for what they didn't do.
Jerry Bidwell, Gerard Drummond, Diana Goldschmidt, Mark Gardiner, James Voytko and state Treasurer Randall Edwards make up the Oregon Investment Council, which oversees investment of all state funds. While their primary responsibility is to make sure hired money managers get the best possible returns, they also are in a position to shape corporate policies. Controlling what amounts to the nation's 25th-largest pension fund, the council members have a good deal of sway in corporate boardrooms--if they choose to use it.
Earlier this year, several members of Congress decried the growing number of U.S. corporations moving their headquarters offshore to evade federal taxes. Congressional researchers identified at least 20 companies that have set up, or are in the process of setting up, foreign mailboxes, resulting in the estimated loss of $628 million in tax revenue over the next five years.
According to Edwards, Oregon has $38 million invested in five of the rogue corporations identified by Congressional staffers, including $9.3 million tied up in scandal-ridden Tyco International. While Edwards says he doesn't like seeing the bad boys of biz in the state's investment portfolio, he thinks the council needs to move deliberately on issues of corporate responsibility.
His counterpart to the south, however, isn't waiting around. On Nov. 18, California Treasurer Phil Angelides announced that the board overseeing California's public-pension system has targeted Tyco and two other expatriate companies in which the state owns stock. The board voted to support shareholder resolutions calling for Tyco, McDermott International and Ingersoll-Rand to return their legal addresses to U.S. soil.
The shareholder resolutions may never come to a vote and, even if they should pass, are not binding. But they are a logical first step for investors, including Oregon, to take. If you agree, you can contact the members of the Oregon Investment Council at 350 Winter St. NE, Suite 100, Salem, OR 97301-3896 or email Randall Edwards at oregon.treasury@state.or.us.
WWeek 2015