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‘Woke investing’ draws ire of conservative lawmakers

SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR
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‘Woke investing’ draws ire of conservative lawmakers

By TOM GANTERT AND BRETT ROWLAND | THE CENTER SQUARE

BlackRock Inc., the self-proclaimed world’s largest investment manager, announced this year that it signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote the growth of “gender lens investing.”

The term, which didn’t appear in newspapers until 2012, is described by one multi-national accounting firm as “investing in organizations that promote workplace equity … or in organizations that offer products or services that improve the lives of women in a sustainable manner.”

It’s that type of what the political right refers to as “woke investing” known as ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) that has BlackRock and a handful of other investment managers on the radar of Republican politicians.

With annual revenue of $19.3 billion, BlackRock was accused in 2021 media stories of flexing its economic might by demanding “corporate polluters” to explain how they meet BlackRock’s goal of net zero carbon dioxide emissions by 2050 or risk BlackRock divesting from those companies with its managed funds.

Some states are now responding.

State of Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar published a list of 10 financial companies that boycott energy companies. BlackRock was on his list.

“The environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) movement has produced an opaque and perverse system in which some financial companies no longer make decisions in the best interest of their shareholders or their clients, but instead use their financial clout to push a social and political agenda shrouded in secrecy,” Hegar said in a statement.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated in a letter that BlackRock’s energy agenda may violate state laws across the country that are “requiring a sole focus on financial return.”

“Our states will not idly stand for our pensioners’ retirements to be sacrificed for BlackRock’s climate agenda,” Paxton’s letter stated, which was signed by a total of 19 GOP state attorneys general.

In August, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the State Board of Administration passed a resolution that removed ESG from consideration when it comes to investing state funds.

“Corporate power has increasingly been utilized to impose an ideological agenda on the American people through the perversion of financial investment priorities under the euphemistic banners of environmental, social, and corporate governance and diversity, inclusion, and equity,” DeSantis said in a statement.

In 2021, BlackRock reported record results.

BlackRock supports the Paris Agreement, in which the U.S. ended its participation in 2020 under President Donald Trump due to the “onerous energy restrictions it has placed on the United States.” Trump said in a news release the Paris Accord would cost the U.S. economy $3 trillion and 6.5 million industrial jobs by 2040. President Joe Biden reversed course on his first day in office and accepted the Paris Agreement.

The Texas Attorney General’s Aug. 4, 2022, letter specifically mentioned BlackRock’s support of the Paris Agreement.

BlackRock has been transparent about its investment strategy involving ESG.

In 2018, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink sent a letter to CEOs stating, “Society is demanding that companies, both public and private, serve a social purpose. To prosper over time, every company must not only deliver financial performance, but also show how it makes a positive contribution to society.”

Fink added, “… a company’s ability to manage environmental, social, and governance matters demonstrates the leadership and good governance that is so essential to sustainable growth, which is why we are increasingly integrating these issues into our investment process.”

Tom Gantert worked at many daily newspapers including the Ann Arbor News, Lansing State Journal and USA Today. Gantert was the managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential for five years before joining The Center Square.

Brett Rowland has worked as a reporter in newsrooms in Illinois and Wisconsin. He most recently served as news editor of the Northwest Herald in Crystal Lake, Illinois. He previously held the same position at the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb.

Surprise: Kenai Borough Assembly votes in Navarre as temporary mayor

Suzanne Downing
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Surprise: Kenai Borough Assembly votes in Navarre as temporary mayor

Former Mayor Mike Navarre will take over as mayor when Kenai Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce steps away at the end of September to focus his efforts on his campaign for governor. The vote was taken at Tuesday night’s Assembly meeting and was something of a surprise.

Assemblyman Richard Derkevorkian wanted to get more public input before the decision was made.

“I pushed for this appointment to be postponed until the next assembly meeting on Sept. 20 to allow interested parties to submit resumes for the Assembly to review at the next meeting. This would have allowed the public to be involved in the process. The candidates would have been included in the agenda packet, and the public would have had an opportunity to comment on the proposed candidates,” he said.

Assemblyman Tyson Cox of Soldotna, however, drove the push for getting the appointment done quickly. The Assembly voted 7-2 in favor of his proposal; there was little public involvement. Derkevorkian and Assemblyman Bill Elam were the only members who voted against it.

“This completely bypassed involving the public,” Derkevorkian said.

The item was a “lay down,” which means it was a last-minute item and the public was not aware that something as important as choosing an interim mayor was on the agenda. “There would have been no interruption to borough activities if we had waited until Sept. 20. Mayor Pierce’s resignation doesn’t take effect until the end of the month,” Derkevorkian said.

Navarre, a Democrat and political activist, was mayor of the borough from 1996-1999 and later from 2011-2017. He was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives, was the commissioner of the Commerce for former Gov. Bill Walker, and is a co-chair of the Walker for Governor campaign.

There was an air of orchestration to the quick deliberation and vote, without inviting public comment. Navarre, who attended the meeting for the first time in a long while, sat in the back of the room for most of the proceedings, but came forward to speak to the Assembly at one point during the deliberations. He said he sees the role as a caretaker position. But his role will involve work on the 2024 budget.

Pierce is leaving the borough with as much as a $30 million surplus, after not raising taxes during his five-year tenure.

Mat-Su Borough will hand count ballots from now on

Suzanne Downing
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Mat-Su Borough will hand count ballots from now on

A resolution to hand count ballots in Mat-Su Borough elections passed the Assembly on Tuesday night. The hand count will be centralized at the Mat-Su Borough building, rather than done at the precincts. Machines will still be used to count ballots, but hand counting will be done as well.

Thirty-seven people testified in favor of removing the election machines and doing only a hand count. One testifier represented 7 others, and one represented three others, for a total of 45 in favor of removing the machines, and four testifying against removing them.

At a meeting in August, when the issue was first brought up, about 65-70 people attended and 30 testified that they don’t trust the vote tabulating machines.

Assemblyman Ron Bernier said that he will introduce an ordinance to remove the voting machines. That ordinance will be introduced Oct. 4, and the public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 16.

Notes from the trail: Mat-Su may return to hand-counts, a chili feed on the calendar, and Sarah in new spat with NYT

Man arrested for allegedly shooting at cars on Glenn Hwy

Suzanne Downing
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Man arrested for allegedly shooting at cars on Glenn Hwy

Reports of shots being fired near the Glenn Highway and Boniface Parkway on Tuesday night brought a large law enforcement presence to the area. Arrested was Franklin Dias, 37, and Evamarie G. I. Booth, 20.

At 6:22 pm, several reports were called into the Anchorage police, saying a man was walking along the bike path by the Glenn Highway and shooting at vehicles driving by. The first officer responding to the incident was shot at, with a bullet lodging in the patrol vehicle, but not injuring the officer. A person in another vehicle was hit by a bullet in the upper body. That victim was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive.

As officers responded to the area, witnesses advised the dispatcher that the shooter had a female with him.  Soon after the first arriving officer advised his patrol vehicle had been hit, other officers arrived at the scene and saw an adult male and adult female running on the bike trail near the Glenn Highway and Boniface overpass. Initially the two did not respond to commands, but became compliant when they saw how many officers had arrived on scene. 
 
Just before Franklin Dias was taken into custody, and while he was still trying to run from police, officers saw him toss a handgun over the JBER property fence. That gun was subsequently recovered by APD.  A large knife was also found on the sidewalk where Dias had been.
 
Dias was remanded at the Anchorage Jail on an outstanding felony warrant.  He was additionally charged with Misconduct Involving a Weapon V – Fire Gun by Highway, Tamper with Physical Evidence, five counts of Assault III, two counts of Assault I, Misconduct Involving a Weapon III – Felon in Possession, Misconduct Involving a Weapon II – Fire Gun at a Dwelling, and Reckless Endangerment.

Dias has other prior encounters with the justice system. The Alaska Court system has an open case on him relating to robbery in 2020, in which he pleaded guilty in February of 2022, with a warrant issued for his arrest in August for probation violations.
 
Booth was charged with Resisting.

Former lawmaker Vic Kohring dead in car accident

Suzanne Downing
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Former lawmaker Vic Kohring dead in car accident

Former legislator Victor Kohring, age 64, has died in a car accident.

On Tuesday at 5:06 pm, the Alaska State Troopers were notified of a vehicle collision near mile 53 of the Glenn Highway north of Palmer. Troopers and first responders immediately responded to the scene.

Troopers came upon a Toyota minivan that had collided head-on with a semi-truck after crossing the center line for unknown reasons. Kohring was the sole occupant of the minivan and was declared deceased on the scene.

The AST Bureau of Highway Patrol conducted an investigation of the crash scene and assumed case responsibility for the investigation. Kohring’s remains were transported to the State Medical Examiner for autopsy. The Glenn Highway was closed in both directions for approximately two hours as Troopers documented the scene and cleared the roadway.

Kohring served in the Alaska House of Representatives until 2007, when he resigned during a corruption probe, after serving seven terms, beginning in 1994. After the FBI searched his offices in Juneau, Kohring was indicted on federal bribery and extortion charges on May 4, 2007, accused of soliciting and accepting bribes from VECO, an oilfield services company.

On Nov. 1, 2007, a federal jury found Kohring guilty in three out of four criminal charges and acquitted on the fourth, a charge of extortion. He was sentenced to three and a half years in prison, but then the conviction was vacated in 2011, and Kohring agreed to plead guilty in exchange for being sentenced to time served, and conditions for his release, which was June 11, 2009.

Kohring came to Alaska as a child from Lake Zurich, IL, after traveling the Alaska-Canada Highway with his family. They settled in Chugiak, and moved to Anchorage in 1969. Kohring worked in construction after he graduated from Dimond High. He graduated from Alaska Pacific University in 1987 and 1989 with an undergraduate degree in Management Science and a graduate degree in Business Administration (MBA), respectively. Since 1976, he had been a resident of Wasilla, where he served on the Wasilla Planning and Utilities Commission, on the board of Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, and in other roles.

Mat-Su School Board to take action on suspending current transgender bathroom policy, pending review

Suzanne Downing
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Mat-Su School Board to take action on suspending current transgender bathroom policy, pending review

Wednesday’s Mat-Su School Board meeting will take up the touchy matter of which boys may use the girls’ bathrooms, and vice versa, during the school year. The board is expected to vote to direct Direct Superintendent Randy Trani to suspend the district’s “Transgender Student Guidelines Regarding Use of Communal School Bathrooms that Match Their Gender Identity.”

War on children continues in Mat-Su schools with permissive transgender bathroom policy

The board is somewhat boxed in by a federal judge’s ruling, which enjoined the United States Department of Education’s Title IX guidance. The Biden Administration is insisting that students must be able to use communal bathrooms/locker rooms that the students say match their gender identity.

Mat-Su School District has been following that guidance in its Transgender Student Guidelines. The court action affords an opportunity to review its current policies regarding such matters, and for the District’s administration to review its guidelines regarding student use of communal bathrooms/locker rooms that match their gender identity. 

The committee recommending the action believes that the District’s guidelines should be placed on hold pending such reviews. It is requesting the Board take action and if the proposal passes, the district will continue offering those transgender students use of school bathrooms that provide individual locked access and privacy, for locker room use as well. Transgender students continue to have access to communal bathrooms/locker rooms that match their biologically established gender.

The meeting starts at 6 pm at the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District Central Office, 501 N. Gulkana St., Palmer.

Meetings are streamed online at https://vimeo.com/MSBSD

The agenda can be found at this link.

Notes from the trail: The push for November general election has begun, but first, local elections are nigh

Suzanne Downing
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Notes from the trail: The push for November general election has begun, but first, local elections are nigh

Most Alaska localities will have municipal and borough elections on Oct. 4.

Juneau: The Capital City’s municipal election will be mail-in for the third time, but for the first time the city will have it own ballot-counting machines. During the past two elections, officials have flown the ballots to Anchorage and contracted with the City Clerk to count Juneau’s election.

Ballots for this election will be mailed on Tuesday, Sept. 13, to all Juneau voters at the address on file with the State of Alaska Division of Elections. 

In addition to mailing in their ballots, there will be a couple of secure drop boxes that will be available 24-7 beginning Sept. 19. One will be at the Douglas Library; and the other at Statter Harbor.

Voters can return them by mail with postage. The city encourages getting the post office to hand-cancel that postage with a legible date on the postmark. Hundreds of ballots in last year’s election were rejected because of postmarking issues. People can also bring ballots to City Hall and the Mendenhall Public Library. More information about the Juneau election at this link.

Charlie Pierce: Tuesday night was Mayor Charlie Pierce’s final Assembly meeting after five years as mayor. He was planning to talk about his accomplishments as a mayor. Also, it looks like the Borough Assembly is going to swear in former Mayor Mike Navarre for the borough’s temporary mayor, until there’s a special election held to finish out the final year for Mayor Pierce. (Navarre is a Democrat and on the Bill Walker for Governor campaign committee.)

Gov. Mike Dunleavy: Dunleavy will be in Homer on Wednesday evening for a meet-and-greet. He’s planning a press conference on Thursday, sources say, to announce what will be an historic Permanent Fund dividend.

Cook Political ratings for Congress:

Palin’s histrionics: Questions are being asked — can candidate Nick Begich in all good faith recommend that voters rank second the person who is calling him “Baggage”? Or did Palin on Sunday self-immolate? Her Sunday public display has the whole state talking about her stability.

Random stumble: Sarah Palin on Sunday called out MRAK writer Suzanne Downing as a special problem for Palin and kept pointing at a woman in the media scrum she thought was Downing. It was actually Alaska Public Media’s Liz Ruskin. Downing was not present at the press conference at the Palin house but sends Ruskin deepest sympathies for the mixup.

Palin lashes out at reporters, demands Nick Begich resign from congressional race immediately

Begich v. Palin: It’s too late for any of the candidates to drop out but media commentator Ann Coulter has run the numbers. On her podcast, she says that Sarah Palin should have dropped out, as she has hit her voter ceiling:

Candidate drop-out date comes and goes, leaving most state races left with no actual ‘ranked choice’ on the ballot

Events coming up this week:

Noteworthy: Some business leaders who were formerly more aligned with the Tara Sweeney for Congress camp have come over to the Nick Begich for Congress camp, such as Jim Jansen, Rick Fox, Dana Cruz, Casey Sullivan, and Kara Moriarty. Also notable is that a longtime friend and campaign fundraiser for Congressman Don Young has signed up as a cosponsor to a fundraiser: Curtis Thayer, one of the biggest names in the successes of Don Young.

Kelly Tshibaka: Senate candidate will be walking door to door in neighborhoods in Anchorage this week. Next week she’ll be in Southeast Alaska. Seen above, a rainbow over the Kelly Thsibaka sign on the Seward Highway.

Lisa Murkowski: Murkowski has been spending a lot of time in Ketchikan, her home turf. She’s been visiting schools and firewalls.

Candidate drop-out date comes and goes, leaving most state races left with no actual ‘ranked choice’ on the ballot

Suzanne Downing
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Candidate drop-out date comes and goes, leaving most state races left with no actual ‘ranked choice’ on the ballot

In Eagle River’s State Senate Seat L, Kelly Merrick and Ken McCarty are all that remain on the November ballot, after candidates Clayton Trotter and Joe Wright dropped out of the race, leaving a head-to-head race between conservative McCarty and Merrick, who caucused with the Democrats during the past two years.

There will be no ranked-choice mess in the Eagle River Senate race — it’s a back to a binary choice between McCarty or Merrick.

In House races, a total of 26 of the 40 seats have either just one or two candidates on the ballot. There is no ranking involved when there are one or two candidates. Add in the races with three names on the ballot, and fully 35 races out of 40 that three or fewer choices.

Only five House races will have a candidate in all four slots on the ranked choice ballot.

That means just 12.5% of legislative House seats will actually be chosen through a ranked choice method with four candidates. 15% of the seats have only one candidate, and half of the seats being contested are binary from the get-go, with two candidates.

In the Senate, 11 of the 19 seats have two or fewer candidates: 58% of the seats. Another 8 of the 19 have three candidates — 42%.

Others who dropped out by the Sept. 5 Division of Elections deadline include:

Senate Seat J: East Anchorage Democrat Drew Cason withdrew, leaving Democrats Forrest Dunbar and Geran Tarr to battle it out for the liberal vote, while Andrew Satterfield, the Republican, makes his first attempt at elected office. This race has three candidates.

House District 1: Shevaun Meggitt, a Wrangell nonpartisan, dropped out. Left in the race are Democrat-caucusing Rep. Dan Ortiz and Republican Jeremy Bynum. Both are of Ketchikan. This race has two candidates.

House District 10: For South Anchorage, Democrat Sue Levi, a regular on the ballot, dropped out. Remaining on the ballot are Libertarian Mikel Insalco, Democrat Caroline Storm, and Republican former Rep. Craig Johnson. This race has three candidates.

House District 13: Alaskan Independence Party Tim Huit dropped out, so that Republican Kathy Henslee has a clear shot to take on Rep. Andy Josephson for this mid-Anchorage seat. This race has two candidates.

House District 16: Alaska Constitution Party Richard Beckes dropped out, along with Republican Joel McKinney. That leaves Republican Liz Vazquez to face off against Democrat Jennifer Armstrong for west Anchorage. This race has two candidates.

House District 21: Patrick Sharrock, a nonpartisan, dropped from the ballot, leaving Democrat Donna Mears and Republican Forrest Wolfe to duke it out in East Anchorage. This race has two candidates.

House District 22: Republican Lisa Simpson has dropped, and Ted Eischeid, a Democrat, will face off against Republican Stanley Wright. This race has two candidates.

House District 35: Nonpartisan Tim Parker withdrew, and this race is unusual in that it has four candidates left: Republican Kevin McKinley, Republican Ruben McNeill, Alaska Constitution Party Kieran Brown, and Democrat Ashley Carrick. This race has four candidates.

The general election is on Nov. 8, when all candidates on Alaska’s ballots are in ranked choice races — except for the vast majority of them, which are not in races where ranked choice voting can actually be done.

The normalizing of an abnormal and dysfunctional election system

Mayor’s plan for winter shelter for homeless will require cooperation from an anti-mayor Assembly

Suzanne Downing
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Mayor’s plan for winter shelter for homeless will require cooperation from an anti-mayor Assembly

Anchorage Mayor Dave Bronson last week unveiled the Municipality’s Emergency Cold Weather Sheltering plan for the 2022-23 winter. As required by Anchorage Municipal Code, the administration developed the plan to address emergency sheltering as temperatures drop. The plan includes four main components:

  1. Use up to 20 portable self-contained buildings provided to the Municipality, at no-cost by a community partner, as cold weather shelters. These 900-1000 square foot buildings will be placed at selected site(s) and have the potential to shelter 200-240 individuals.
  2. Develop a program to provide micro-grants to churches, non-profits, and organizations throughout Anchorage who elect to become emergency shelter sites. These micro-grants will be funded by the Municipality.
  3. Provide funding to extend operations at the Aviator Hotel as a non-congregate site through the end of December, with the option to extend through April. 
  4. Use Municipality buildings as emergency shelter sites. The Spenard Recreation Center and Fairview Recreation Center have been selected as MOA emergency shelter sites. Using these buildings is the least preferred option identified by the Municipality. If portable self-contained buildings do not become available through necessary code changes, these sites will be activated from October – April.

The Bronson Administration will need the cooperation of the Anchorage Assembly, whose leftist leadership has a history of blocking everything and anything it can in order to hamstring the mayor. Leftists on the Assembly worked hard, but failed to get Assemblyman Forrest Dunbar elected mayor, and now find many ways to block the person who voters chose to lead the city. The code change needed will allow portable, self-contained buildings to be used as emergency shelters, and that requires Assembly approval.

Bronson said he also needs help from the Assembly to identify funding sources to continue housing the 200 people staying at the Aviator Hotel.

Additionally, with the city-funded Navigation Center expected to come online soon, another 150 beds, with the potential to surge up to 200 beds, will be available this winter. This purpose-built facility will play a key role in connecting individuals to services, treatment, job training, and permanent housing.

The Municipality will place individuals in municipal-owned buildings as a last resort if enough shelter space is not available in the community. The municipality has room for up to 100 women and children at the Spenard Recreation Center, and up to 100 single adults at the Fairview Recreation Center.

The entire Emergency Cold Weather Sheltering Plan can be found at this link. An application process will open soon for the micro-grant program. Churches, agencies, non-profits, and entities seeking to become an emergency shelter this winter can apply and learn more about their potential role in providing shelter at this link.

The Assembly leadership is developing its own competing plan, which signals it is reluctant to work in good faith with the mayor. The Assembly refused to work with the mayor on his plan in 2021, which included a navigation center that the Assembly opposed. The navigation center is a one-stop place for homeless to get many different services, including referrals to drug and alcohol treatment, shelters, jobs, job training, and reuniting with family.

The Mayor’s team will meet with the homelessness committee on Wednesday, but the Assembly does not meet as a decision-making body until Sept. 13. The normal date for temperatures getting into the 30s (39º or less) in Anchorage is Sept. 5. At this point, the nighttime temperatures are still in the high 40s.

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