What Did the Governor Actually Say?

He must be saying something.

In a previous post, we noted that the Sacramento Bee was reporting that the governor wanted CalPERS, CalSTRS, and UCRP to sell all their Russian assets due to the Ukraine invasion.* We noted that there may not be buyers for some types of assets and in other cases selling would occur at fire sale prices, not in keeping with the fiduciary duties of the plans.

Another version of the story, however, by LA Times columnist George Skelton has the governor calling for the plans just not to buy new Russian assets, which they would be unlikely to do, given the risks entailed.**

Whatever he may have said, it was surely more thoughtful than the LA Times Editorial Board which - while recognizing the no-buyer/fire-sale problem, says sell everything anyway because it is confident someone can figure out how to do it.***

===

*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/03/newsom-calls-on-ca-pension-funds.html.

**https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-03-03/skelton-newsom-call-state-sanctions-against-russia. 

***https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-03-03/editorial-california-should-cut-its-economic-ties-with-russia.