Alaska Commissioner of Revenue Adam Crum joined 25 other state financial officers this week in a pointed letter to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, warning that major asset managers are straying from traditional fiduciary responsibilities in pursuit of political and social agendas.
Crum, who recently submitted his resignation from the Dunleavy administration and is expected to file for governor in 2026, signed on to the letter as part of a broader push by conservative-leaning state officials to clamp down on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment strategies.
Crum is the national vice chairman of the State Financial Officers Foundation, which sent the letter, and speaks at the group’s events.
“As financial officers entrusted with safeguarding our states’ public funds, we write to express our deep concern about the erosion of traditional fiduciary duty in American capital markets,” the letter begins. It argues that large financial firms—BlackRock chief among them—have increasingly used passive investment vehicles like index funds to engage in corporate activism that strays beyond “materiality and positive financial return.”
The letter cites a January 2025 federal court ruling in Spence v. American Airlines, which found that the airline violated its fiduciary duty by allowing BlackRock to vote proxies in favor of ESG priorities. “The very occurrence of this case illustrates just how far fiduciary standards have splintered,” the officers wrote.
The multi-state coalition is urging BlackRock and similar firms to adopt five specific reforms:
- Stop using deterministic assumptions, such as fake inevitable climate catastrophe, to justify activist corporate engagement.
- Refrain from using passive investment funds as proxy activism, arguing that such vehicles are designed for low-cost market exposure, not ideological influence.
- Avoid inflicting international globalist political agendas into investment strategies, including net-zero mandates or EU regulatory frameworks.
- Publish clear and shareholder-value-focused proxy voting guidelines, free from environmental or social targets.
- Disclose all affiliations with coalitions like Climate Action 100+, the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ), or the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), which may steer firms toward ideological goals.
“Fiduciary duty has long been a critical safeguard that facilitated efficient capital allocation grounded in financial merit rather than political ideology,” the officials wrote, calling for a return to traditional standards and warning against speculative, politically motivated investment strategies.
Crum’s participation in the letter comes as he transitions out of public office. Crum has served as Commissioner of Revenue since 2022, following his term as Commissioner of Health and Social Services.
The letter requests a formal response from BlackRock by Sept. 1, 2025, and invites further dialogue between the firm and state financial officers. It concludes with a warning: “Our public servants, retirees, and taxpayers deserve nothing less” than a financial system rooted in “financial integrity, not political advocacy.”
Whether BlackRock will respond, of course, is questionable. BlackRock is the world’s largest asset management company, with $11.5 trillion in assets under management as of 2024. That is its total value of investments it manages for clients, including institutional, intermediary, and individual investors across various asset classes like equity, fixed income, multi-assets, alternatives, and cash management. The company, which operates in 30 countries with 70 offices and serves clients in 100 countries, has a portfolio is roughly equivalent to half the Gross Domestic Product of the United States (2024 U.S. GDP was around $25.5 trillion) and significantly larger than the GDP of almost all other countries.
In 2022, Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor, also now on the verge of announcing his run for govern, joined a 21-state coalition to file a formal complaint with the US Securities and Exchange Commission about its proposed rule requiring ESG influence in investing decisions.
