Retirees beware: Democratic politicians are escalating their effort to play political games with public pension dollars. Nationwide, some $6 trillion is set aside in government employee retirement funds. Yet politicians in blue cities and states increasingly aim to use this money to promote a left-wing agenda. Ignoring the interests of the retirees, leftists want to use the money to push, say, opposition to Israel, anti-Trump “resistance,” or even animus for Elon Musk.
Count on this issue to emerge as a flash point at New York City under the impending mayoralty of Zohran Mamdani. The city’s public pension fund, to the tune of some $300 billion, runs the risk of becoming a kind of political shlushfund. The outgoing comptroller, Brad Lander, had reduced the fund’s holdings, dating back to the 1970s, in Israeli government debt. Mr. Lander denied any political motive, and the fund still holds private Israeli debt.
Yet critics questioned the timing of Mr. Lander’s move, especially amid a larger left-wing climate of hostility toward Israel. Mayor Eric Adams’ first deputy mayor, Randy Mastro, demanded an explanation as to why the bonds were not renewed when they matured. “This divestment, occurring amid a global ‘Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions’ campaign against Israel, appears to be in furtherance of that BDS campaign,” Mr. Mastro said.
The city’s incoming comptroller, Mark Levine, has vowed to reinvest in the Israeli bonds. Yet this could set in motion a collision course with the mayor-elect, who, per the Times, “has for years been an outspoken supporter of the movement to boycott Israel,” and “is likely to oppose such reinvestment.” It would be a mistake, though, to make investment decisions merely to make hay with voters, rather than on logical financial grounds.
Feature, say, the demarche by the treasurer of Chicago, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, to cease investing in American Treasury debt as a protest against President Trump’s enforcement of immigration laws. Ms. Conyears-Ervin, who has thrown her hat in the ring for a seat in Congress, “will forego those risk-free investments,” Politico reports, until Mr. Trump orders federal authorities to “stop putting guns to the heads of American citizens,” as she puts it.
“We will not bankroll Donald Trump to terrorize American citizens,” the Windy City wisewoman warns. She calls for other localities to follow suit: “If we do join together, imagine the message that would be sent to Washington, D.C., to Donald Trump.” Yet as was well-marked by the Wall Street Journal in an editorial on Friday, this move could be counterproductive for Chicago. The city, after all, per Politico, is “cash-strapped” with “sinking credit ratings.”
Chicago’s self-defeating avoidance of federal debt follows moves earlier this year by liberal politicians to take on Tesla and deploy public pension funds to torment the company’s chief executive, Elon Musk. Since the city pension fund held Tesla stock, Mr. Lander had called for a shareholder lawsuit against the crusty carmaker, claiming that Mr. Musk’s work at the White House had caused “the company’s shares to plunge.”
Mr. Lander’s call to sue Tesla stoked fears about Democrats deploying public pension funds to score points against political foes. Liberals, Mr. Musk said, were putting “pressure on me and Tesla so I stop doing this.” Such efforts, if conducted in a concerted manner, could foreseeably cause harm to companies who run afoul of liberal politicians. Beneficiaries of public pensions also face the risk of collateral damage as the left extends politics to finance.