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State Treasurer Janet Cowell has issued two new ethics rules for her office, the latest in her efforts at reform.

Employees are banned from accepting any gifts from companies that do business with the department, and staffers covered by the state ethics law are prohibited from soliciting charitable contributions of more than $150 from contractors or vendors.

This is the third set of ethical rule changes Cowell has made, and these come after former Chief Investment Officer Pat Gerrick was offered favors by investment firms that she said she did not accept. Another recent story chronicled how former Treasurer Richard Moore took a job with an investment firm less than a year after what was then his office invested $500 million with that company.

In September, Cowell ordered changes, including a ban on senior staff doing business with the office for two years after leaving and a tightening of travel policies that followed Gerrick's firing amid questions over her travel expenses. Those guidelines came four months after her initial set of rules aimed at greater transparency.

North Carolina's former chief investment officer, Pat Gerrick, asked some of her then-subordinates in the state treasurer's office to help her daughter with college homework.

In April 2007, Gerrick provided her daughter, Meredith, with the email addresses for five members of Gerrick's staff, who are charged with overseeing the state pension fund, currently worth more than $60 billion, according to emails provided under a public records request. The staff members responded with answers to several questions from an investment-oriented group project for Meredith Gerrick. The staff members included the operations manager for the investment management division and the fixed income portfolio manager.

Gerrick was fired by State Treasurer Janet Cowell in August amid questions about travel expenses and cell phone bills. Questions have also been raised about Gerrick's relationships with firms that did business with the state.

Gerrick said last week that she asked her staff for help with the homework but made clear it was not an order.

"I just sent it around," Gerrick said. "I think you’ll see on the email, it says, 'If you have time, if you want to do it.'"

They won't go: Finding a way to keep 20 inmates convicted of rape, murder or assault in prison allows Gov. Beverly Perdue to take a 'tough on crime' stance at a time when polls show her popularity has tanked, writes Rob Christensen. (N&O)

It's about relationships: Pat Gerrick, fired in August from her job overseeing the state's $60 billion-plus pension fund, said firms doing business with the state offered her favors but she did not accept them, writes Mark Johnson.  (N&O)

North Carolina's former chief investment officer Pat Gerrick, who used to oversee the state's pension fund, has an unusual connection to Horsley Bridge Partners, a San Francisco investment firm where the pension fund invested $225 million, since 2007.

Carolina Journal reports that Pamela Joyner is an executor of Gerrick's will. Gerrick previously described the two as friends. Joyner's husband, Alfred Giuffrida, is a managing director of Horsley Bridge Partners.

The firm received almost $1.5 million in fees from the pension fund in 2007 and 2008, the paper reports.

Gerrick was fired in August amid questions about travel reimbursements from third parties and cell phone bills. In a statement released to the news media two weeks ago, she also acknowledged that investors who did business with the state contributed to Family House, a hospitality and support center for critically ill patients in Chapel Hill where Gerrick previously served on the board.

Cowell announced four policy changes meant to increase public insight into the areas where the state's money managers interact with the private sector.

"The top priority for this administration is transparency, ethics and accountability," said Cowell, a Democrat. "These policies represent additional steps in instilling public confidence in our investment-making decisions."

The changes come after disclosures that Cowell fired her chief investment officer, Pat Gerrick. The termination came after Gerrick reimbursed Cowell's office $3,000 for personal phone calls and updated her state ethics disclosure to show that she had travel paid for by non-state employees who were managers of the state's retirement fund.

Pat Gerrick, the former chief investment officer for State Treasurer Janet Cowell, said she reversed plans to resign — and was, instead, fired — after Gerrick said Cowell refused to pay Gerrick's vacation and comp time.

Gerrick this week released a nine-page response to information provided by Cowell's office last week. Among other points, Gerrick said Cowell's staff insisted that Gerrick sign a letter releasing the treasurer's office from "any claims."

Gerrick also acknowledged that some investment managers who did business with the state contributed to Family House, a hospitality and support center for critically ill patients in Chapel Hill where Gerrick previously served on the board.

Click the link for Garrett's complete response.