Perry Continues To Push For Pension Divestment

Texas Governor Rick Perry is continuing to push state pension funds to divest in companies that do direct business with Iran.

This continues to set off my alarm bells, particularly since it appears that Perry and the agencies in charge of these pension funds seem to rapidly be approaching standoff which could potentially lead to a special session:

Nearly two months later, neither the $112.1 billion Teacher Retirement System nor the $24.7 billion Employees Retirement System has given him a detailed plan, although Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said progress is being made.

But concerns about the idea remain, including with Employees Retirement System Chairman Bill Ceverha of Dallas, who wonders where such moves might lead.

“Obviously, Rick Perry is not going to be governor forever. You could have a governor who is a vegetarian … and decides that we shouldn’t be investing in companies that deal with meat,” Ceverha said Monday.

Setting aside the fact that Bill Ceverha has no business serving on any state government board whatsoever, and the fact that his quote takes the issue to asinine extremes, Ceverha is hinting at what most political insiders think: why the hell is Perry doing this?

It’s for two reasons. First and foremost, it’s to gain political capital in the Veep hunt. Second, and more disconcerting, is that he’s doing it to force a special session. Why? Because he and his GOP colleagues in the Texas Legislature were unsuccessful in getting Voter ID laws on the books during the 80th Lege. Voter ID laws are being pushed by the GOP at the national level across the nation because the party believes it is necessary to disenfranchise millions of voters in order to hold the presidency and possibly regain seats in Congress–since most of those disenfranchised by Voter ID would be traditionally Democratic voters.

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