What Does Bob Casey Do As Treasurer?

Rick Santorum will hold a press conference later this morning to discuss the record of his opponent for the Senate, Bob Casey Jr, in his previous position as state Treasurer. Santorum will point out that Casey invested Pennsylvania pension funds in a series of companies that do business in Iran. Appearing with Santorum to discuss the role of state treasurers in investment decisions will be Sarah Steelman, Missouri State Treasurer.
Santorum bases his allegations on a series of investments by Pennsylania pension funds such as PSERS and SERS. The two funds have invested a total of $175 million in companies that do business with the mullahcracy. These investments seem rather focused on China, which brings up a raft of other questions about what Pennsylvania pensions support. This list is for SERS:
CHINA PETROLEUM AND CHEMICAL 4,086,635
CHIYODA CORP Y50 2,086,923
PETROCHINA CO ‘H’CNY1 7,327,793
PTT PUB CO THB10 (ALIEN MKT) 3,687,533
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL A SHS 14,851,692
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL ‘B’ SHS 29,411,353
SIAM CEMENT CO THB1 (ALIEN 2,530,536
SINOPEC SHANGHAI PETROCHEMICAL 576,838
And for PSERS:
CHINA PETROLEUM & CHEM CORP 546,280
CHINA PETROLEUM & CHEMICAL 14,548,562
CHIYODA CO 129,611
CHIYODA CORP 86,860
PETROCHINA CO 23,095,275
PTT PUB CO THB10 (ALIEN MKT) 7,343,945
ROYAL DUTCH PETE CO 454,300
ROYAL DUTCH PETROL 46,842,797
SIAM CEMENT CO THB1 (ALIEN) 8,304,114
SIAM CEMENT CO THB1 (NVDR) 8,222,788
SINOPEC YIZHENG CHEM FIBRE 1,296,727
In May 2005 Steelman demanded an end to US investments in companies doing business with unfriendly nations. She made it a public crusade after discovering that Missouri had investments in Arab Bank, under investigation from the FBI regarding potential terrorist connections and at the time the subject of a lawsuit brought by the widow of a man shot to death in Gaza. John Linde Jr died in an ambush of an American diplmatic convoy that was supposed to interview Fulbright scholarship candidates, a terrorist act that even embarrassed Yasser Arafat. Her rhetoric reflected her amazement at finding this investment:

“This is like financial friendly fire on our troops and our citizens,” Steelman said. “It is an outrage for our retirement fund to hold more than $80,000 in investments in Arab Bank while it is under investigation for allegedly financing terrorists and is being sued for helping kill Missouri citizens. This must stop and stop now.”
In addition to Arab Bank, MOSERS also is directly invested in a number of foreign companies that are engaged in development and investments in Iran. American companies are prohibited by current U.S. policy from doing business in Iran.

In fact, Steelman discovered that Missouri did business with companies like Royal Dutch Petroleum, Siam Cement, Sinopec Shanghai Petrochemical, and Chiyoda — the same companies in which Pennsylvania pensions still invest.
Santorum will point to a bill passed by the Pennsylvania House in 2003 (HR 263), a direction from the legislature to PSERS, SERS, and the State Treasury to identify those investments that had any connection to companies or nations doing business in Iran, as well as Libya, Syria, Sudan, Iraq, and North Korea. It’s clear that the legislature wanted Pennsylvania to redirect their investments away from such companies and projects. However, Casey apparently has done nothing to keep Pennsylvania funds from supporting companies that do business with the same nations that threaten us.
Keep an eye out for this press conference. The fallout should be interesting.

3 thoughts on “What Does Bob Casey Do As Treasurer?”

  1. What Does Bob Casey Do As Treasurer?

    What Does Bob Casey Do As Treasurer?Ed Morrissey Rick Santorum will hold a press conference later this morning to discuss the record of his opponent for the Senate, Bob Casey Jr, in his previous position as state Treasurer. Santorum will

  2. Let’s help Andrew Sullivan use Google! (Casey, Sudan)

    Andrew Sullivan’s post “The Desperation of Santorum” directs us to this article in which Sen. Rick Santorum says the following about his opponent Bob Casey, the current Treasurer of Pennsylvania: “Bob Casey has invested Pennsylvania…

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