Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beverly Perdue is airing an ad criticizing the performance of her rival, Richard Moore, as state treasurer and his willingness to take campaign contributions from people on Wall Street, Ben Niolet reports.
What the ad says: “I’m Bev Perdue. I’m running for governor, and I sponsored this ad.” Announcer: “Listen to Richard Moore.” Video clip of Moore: “I want to be held accountable.” Announcer: “Accountable? As treasurer, Moore put $2 billion of state pensions into risky hedge funds. And increased fees paid to fund managers by 600 percent. Now Wall Street investors have given 1.5 million to his campaign.” Video clip of Moore: “I want to be held accountable.” Announcer: “Come on, Richard. Moore is for Wall Street. Not for us.”
The background: The state treasurer oversees a $77 billion pension fund for state and local government employees. In his two terms as treasurer, Moore has invested in hedge funds and other alternative investments. Since September 2002, the treasurer’s office has committed $741 million in hedge funds, which are complex and aggressive investments. The current value of the pension’s hedge fund investments is $920 million, according to the treasurer’s office.
As treasurer, Moore has dramatically increased the fees paid to money managers. The claim about increased fees is based on a March 2007 Forbes magazine article. Spokeswomen for Moore’s campaign and the treasurer’s office do not dispute the number and acknowledge the pension fund is paying more in fees under Moore. In fiscal 2007, Moore paid $155 million in fees to money managers, not including bonuses for exceptional performance. His predecessor paid $57 million in his last year in office. Moore’s staff says that the fees are part of running a modern, successful pension fund and that they are similar to — or less than — fees paid by comparable funds.
The claim about Moore’s fundraising is based on Moore’s campaign finance reports since he first ran for treasurer in the 2000 election. Moore’s publicly available finance reports show donations from plenty of people in the financial industry. The Charlotte Observer reported last year that since 1999, Moore had received more than $700,000 from donors affiliated with companies that did business with the treasurer’s office. Over nearly 10 years, Moore has raised $1.5 million from employees or family members of employees of firms or banks that do business with the pension fund, according to a spreadsheet provided by the Perdue campaign.
Those companies have offices across the country, including in North Carolina. It’s impossible to verify that every one of those donors is a “Wall Street” investor.
Is the ad accurate? Not entirely. It’s true that Moore has dramatically increased fees paid to money managers. And under Moore’s tenure, the pension fund has invested three-quarters of a billion dollars in hedge funds.
But the claim that he has put $2 billion in hedge funds is not accurate. Moore has raised $1.5 million from people with ties to businesses that work with the pension fund since he first ran for treasurer. But it’s doubtful that every one of those donors is a Wall Street investor.
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