Christie ships pension funds to Wall Street pals, and therein lies a story

Chris Christie's stump speech always includes a passage about how the tough choices had made with regard to pensions, but those choices deserve some healthy scrutiny (Andre Malok/Star-Ledger)
 Star-Ledger
on August 27, 2014

There is a curiously overlooked story from David Sirota that examines the mutually profitable kinship between Gov. Chris Christie and Wall Street hedge funds, and the most curious part is that some of them receive an extraordinary amount of New Jersey business – specifically, the stewardship of state pension funds -- after being identified as the guys who bankrolled the political career of Christie himself.

Among the findings that might make your head explode:

1. There has been a 300-percent spike in management fees over the last three years. Somehow, that seems a bit high, but then, he’s a man who likes to pay for premium services.

2. We spent $400 million last year alone to manage these funds – and the funds' 15.9-percent returns are well below the 17.4 national average, according to an analysis firm.

3. Some funds are managed by Elliott Associates, which is run by uber-vulture Paul Singer -- a Christie sugar daddy that you should know, because he’s the kind of guy who can bring entire governments to their knees. Yes, that includes our own.

One paragraph for your perusal:

The state has sent more pension money to big-name Wall Street firms like Blackstone, Third Point, Omega Advisors, Elliott Associates and Grady's old firm, The Carlyle Group. Additionally, the amount of fees the state pays financial managers has more than tripled since Christie assumed office. New Jersey is now one of America's largest investors in hedge funds. The "maximized returns" have yet to materialize. Between fiscal year 2011 and 2014, the state's pension trailed the median returns for similarly sized public pension systems throughout the country, according to data from the financial analysis firm, Wilshire Associates. That below-median performance has cost New Jersey taxpayers billions in unrealized gains and has left the pension system on shaky ground. Meanwhile, New Jersey is now paying a quarter-billion dollars in additional annual fees to Wall Street firms -- many of whose employees have financially supported Republican groups backing Christie's reelection campaign.

There are a few questions that need to be answered here, starting with this one:

Does this story deserve more traction, or have we grown so anesthetized by our leaders taking gargantuan risks with our money to benefit his political cronies?

That's not a rhetorical question.