Richard Moore: Taking it to Wall Street
Submitted by Oliver Queen on Wed, 06/27/2007 - 11:08am
I want to tell you about the great job Richard is doing for every single American: he's going up to Wall Street to fight for corporate accountability, fighting for tougher environmental standards and against corporate greed. Treasurer Moore is working with Democrats like Gov. Eliot Spitzer to bring a sense of morality back to the corporate world, and he's using North Carolina's leverage as a stockholder with a $70 billion dollar portfolio to work for these changes.
One great example is in Richard's fight against absurd CEO pay for Exxon Mobil's former executive, Lee Raymond:
If you can't see the video, the Raleigh News and Observer has the scoop:
State Treasurer Richard Moore said today the state will withhold its votes from five Exxon Mobil directors who are seeking re-election at tomorrow’s annual shareholder meeting in Dallas. All five have served on the company’s compensation committee over the last five years.
The N.C. Retirement System owns nearly 11 million shares of Exxon Mobil worth more than $660 million. The energy giant is the pension fund’s single largest holding of a publicly traded company.
He gives a pretty good reason for what he's doing. Again, the Raleigh News and Observer:
Moore said that the CEOs of the major oil companies have testified before Congress that "macroeconomic, geopolitical" forces beyond their control were behind rising oil prices.
If that's the case, Moore said, then it is wrong for those executives to be compensated as if they were directly responsible for the high profits engendered by those high prices.
"They can't have it both ways," Moore said.
Consequently, Moore said, directors who have served on Exxon Mobil's compensation committee should be fired for failing to rein in Raymond's pay and his retirement package.
Moore expressed outrage that Raymond's total compensation in his 13 years as CEO, plus the retirement package, totaled $686 million. That works out to $144,573 per day.
That's money that could be going to strengthen our pension funds, or lower gas prices. Unfortunately, not all of our public stockholders are fighting as hard for accountability as Moore is, and it might be worth it to call your state treasurer or comptroller to see what they're doing to hold big business accountable. I bet they won't be expecting it - which is sad, because there's a mission here:
Spitzer commended fellow Democrat Richard Moore ... for using his position as state treasurer to help Spitzer fight the investment firms.
Moore leveraged the state’s $75 billion pension fund by threatening to pull investments out of the companies if they didn’t meet Spitzer’s demands.
“In a world where there was no enforcement,” Spitzer said, “we had to step in to ensure the integrity of the marketplace.”
To quote the Treasurer, "We're sending a strong message to corporate America: We demand a higher level of service from you, and we can do more than just talk about it. We've got the clout to actually do it." I hope I don't have to explain how important this work is ... if you are a state employee, or if you have a pension, you have the power to hold these businesses accountable, to make them come up with a plan to fight global warming, to force them to pay wage workers more, and to be better corporate citizens.
Up at Kos
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/27/111022/845
or just click here
PLEASE rec the diary!
1 Thessalonians 5:21: But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero—that lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth and justice. - Bill Hicks
Thanks, Sam.
Nice write up. You just multiplied what I knew about Moore. Good man. The Gov. race is gonna be a tough one.
"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Very nice post, Sam
Gave it five stars. Nice job of promoting your candidate. I concur. :)
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
Strong stuff, Sam.
I'll head over to kos later.
Moore & Exxon
Why do we even have Exxon stock? (By the same token why do we even have Halliburton stock)
Exxon is one company that has specifically foresworn renewables, unlike other "oil" companies like Shell, BP, Chevron that see themselves as "energy" companies and are heavily invested in renewables.
Targator posted on this a year ago as did the N&O story you linked to. Not sure where it went but this is a round-up from the dark side Newsbusters. The "tomorrow’s annual shareholder meeting in Dallas" was over a year ago.
By the way, speaking of astroturf, (segue from other thread), I knew the man, the late David Chaney, former Dean of NCSU's School of Textiles who led the team in RTP that did the R&D leading to AstroTurf as we know it.
Sorry Sam, good post at Kos, but this post doesn't pass the sniff test. Please clarify. What is the current status?
Exxon Halliburton
It's war profiteering, pure and simple.
Do good. Be nice. Have fun.
I have a question...and I'm not picking on you
I promise. :)
If Moore only invested in the stocks of the "good guy" companies and lost our shirts doing so, would it be OK since he didn't invest in any of the "nasties"? What if by letting these nasty stocks go, the pension portfolio didn't perform and NC slipped in its ability to meet future demands. Would that be OK? I'm just curious where you would propose to draw the line. I'm not defending Halliburton by any stretch or Exxon....just figure we could go stock by stock and come up with all sorts of companies without a conscience. (I know...companies aren't live beings, so technically none of them have a conscience...I'm just sayin'......) Is Moore's job to only invest in companies that always do the right thing or is his job to invest so that our state's pension fund can meet its future obligations?
Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever worked for Halliburton or Exxon, however, my grandfather worked for Exxon at one time and had one of those little furry tiger tails hanging out of his trunk, or gas tank or something like that. I was just a little kid...oh and it was Esso back then.
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
I have the same questions
If we're going to draw a line about Darfur or payday lending companies where should such a line be?
Is it better to be a major shareholder and agitate for change or, only invest in companies perceived to be above reproach? I raise the issue because the Exxon meeting came up a year ago and who knows what came of it?
It's not easy to draw these lines. I'm pretty sure I own some Halliburton stock through index funds. I also have some social responsible investment. In a previous life I had relatives who were Exxon retirees so I always bought Exxon gas. I also invested in a community bank for low & moderate income lendees and made a reasonable profit.
I'm not so concerned about the absolute purity of a given choice, but given a range of choices I like to tip the scales in favor of positive change. I'm not going to refuse to act because every choice is contaminated.
Moore's job is to keep the investment safe and grow it. Having made those choices he can use them for positive change, as with Exxon (I still want an update). At the same time, given comparable security and growth, it is possible to make choices between investments on the basis of other parameters, like social responsibility or environmental sustainability, that speak to a company's ability to to address long term viability rather than very short term share income and related executive pay.
The Treasurer's stated investment strategy is to pick fund managers. Not portfolios, not individual stocks. That means that all this talk about individual stocks is, to some extent, Monday (or Tuesday) morning quarterbacking. If social, political and environmental considerations are to be factored in they should be there from the "git-go".
My biggest concern about the strategy of picking fund managers is that the fund managers have contributed to Moore's campaign. Disclaimer: I currently have no allegiance or preference for any Gubernatorial candidate other than the fact that he/she must be a Democrat.
OK
The Exxon stuff is background for the very recent (last Saturday) Spitzer comment - I'm sorry if I didn't clarify that enough. In my defense, I was trying to get out the door to get to DC.
As for Exxon, they're making a ton of money for NC's employees, and Moore is using our votes responsibly (from the aformentioned CEO example to global warming policy). If Exxon is screwing America and North Carolinians, then they should profit from it. And - do we want to grow the public sector's presence in bad companies or lessen it? Over time, the people can be in the majority.
And on the fund managing, though most of the articles had sensational headlines, they cleared Moore of any wrongdoing suggested by their own speculation. Yeah, it's a problem, but it's a problem that any Treasurer would have had and Moore has weathered that conflict of interest quite well.
1 Thessalonians 5:21: But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero—that lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth and justice. - Bill Hicks
So ....
You mean, if we're getting screwed, at least we should enjoy it? Maybe dinner and a movie first?
How about maybe they shouldn't be "screwing" us. How about that?
That was the second part of the comment
We can't change it if we're not at the table.
1 Thessalonians 5:21: But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
I always wanted to be the avenging cowboy hero—that lone voice in the wilderness, fighting corruption and evil wherever I found it, and standing for freedom, truth and justice. - Bill Hicks
This I agree with completely...
My problem is that we can look at any number of things outwardly and say that a certain company is a better investment in a moral sense and probably be right. I don't have the expertise to analyze everything it takes to determine if an investment is an equal or better financial choice. That's where I have to trust Moore and the money managers.
For the record.....I have no problem with Moore receiving campaign contributions from the people doing business with the state as long as everything is above board and it doesn't look like he's making bad investment decisions in order to court this money. As hard as the local corporate media has tried and are still trying, nobody has been able to prove that there has been any quid pro quo. I'm sure at some point somebody will find that a money manager donor invested in a stinker and the local corporate media will go bonkers trying to prove that this one incident proves Moore is on the take. NC's pension fund is probably one of the most scrutinized in the country at this stage. Even folks on our side seem to be working overtime to try to pin something on Moore.
Robin Hayes lied. Nobody died, but thousands of folks lost their jobs.
***************************
Vote Democratic, the ass you save may be your own.
It's a complex situation,
and it's one of the reasons ethics and accountability aren't a popular subject with stockholders. Dividends and a strong annual return should be prime indicators that a company is doing the right things across the board, but that is not always the case these days. If returns were the only consideration, the coca leaf would be at the top of the commodities market.
Also, if we want to get into "net" gains in a real way in reference to Big Oil stocks and Public investment of such, don't forget the fact that nearly half of our schools' budgets are going into the tanks of school buses before the kids even get to crack a book, which they often have to share with fellow students.
This is a problem we've all allowed to get much worse. You can tell by conversing with your friends, even the progressive ones, that America actually believes the whole, "We have nothing to do with this" line the oil companies have fed us. "OPEC cut production, our refineries are at full capacity, Wall Street dictates per barrel prices, China is too hungry, blah blah blah."
Yes, we have an insatiable appetite for gasoline, and we need to address that. But allowing the free market to be manipulated by Big Oil, while the stockholders (us) look the other way because we think they're making us money is not the way to approach financial security.
Great post Sam
Wonder if the state owns any united health care? Their CEO made $240K a day last year.
SE NC Dems
Stan Bozarth
Meanwhile back at the "Pay Here" counter
I can't get the sonogram part (~$600) of my annual mammogram covered by these jokers.
"They took all the trees and put them in a tree museum Then they charged the people a dollar 'n a half just to see 'em. Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot."
Thank you Richard Moore
Sam, I am very glad that you brought this to our attention. Richard Moore is to be commended for this action, regardless of whether or not we approve of other actions he has taken as Treasurer, or support his campaign for Govenor.
Setting aside the (very legitimate) issue of whether the state funds should include Exxon, etc. - for the moment -
"Just" the single issue of excessive executive compensation is huge.
One of the reasons given for high CEO pay is competition from private equities for executive talent. Private equities play another role: they turn over companies within an average of three years, ten years maximum. This focus on short term profit is filtering down to corporations. High CEO compensation is a factor of maximizing immediate profit instead of taking the long view of a company's future.
This short sightedness takes it's toll. CEO's private interests are being placed above the interests of the corporation as a whole, and of the public. Corporate Greed is filtering down from BushCo. to state and local levels. An example: This Tuesday the Senate Ag./Environment Committee voted for the Energy Bill (SB3) after just two meetings, approving the work of more than a dozen "stakeholder" meetings, attended by at least 70+ industry executives and their attorneys, and a handfull of environmentalists. The intent of the original bill was deeply undermined, especially by provisions for subsidies to new coal and nuclear plants.
From: www.greedandgood.org/
That Richard Moore is giving attention to corporate executive compensation is the best news I've heard all week!