By Paul Gable
Despite continuing efforts to embarrass and silence him, SC Treasurer Curtis Loftis continues to criticize the SC Retirement System Investment Commission for poor performance.
Loftis was subjected to allegations in 2011 that he and Mallory Factor were partners in what was called a “pay to play” scheme involving state retirement funds.
Despite the best efforts of members of the SCRSIC, Gov. Nikki Haley, then state senator Greg Ryberg and others, Loftis was cleared of all allegations by SLED and the SC Attorney General’s office.
Currently, he is facing an Ethics Commission hearing alleging Loftis used his influence as a state constitutional officer to include a business associate and friend as a lawyer in a lawsuit against the Bank of New York Mellon.
I predict these allegations will be found just as baseless.
The good ole boys and their confederates just can’t stand a politician who looks out for the public good first.
And Loftis is not criticizing without reason. The SC retirement system is consistently among the bottom few performers of public pension funds in the nation despite paying hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in fees and giving the underperforming staffers at the SCRSIC generous annual bonuses with more taxpayer dollars.
Below is Loftis’ latest email to SC citizens with promises of more to come:
Dear friends,
SC gambled and lost – and you owe $7 billion.
Over the last 10 years at least $7 billion of your money has been lost due to poor investment performance by the SC Investment Commission.
The Commission was created to invest your tax and retirement money. They gambled when they chose a complicated, expensive, “cutting edge” investment plan and they lost.
They rolled the dice and now you must pay their $7 billion dollar loss.
A simple but diversified selection of “indexed” funds would have made over $7 billion more than their “cutting edge” investment plan. In fact, the Investment Commission’s plan has ranked in the bottom 10% for 10 years in a row!
Even worse, their 10-year investment returns are dead last! That’s right, none of our peers have made less money than South Carolina.
Paying the Commission’s losses will require your taxes be raised or your existing tax dollars be diverted from roads, schools, police and health care to cover their $7 billion loss. It will require raising the retirement contributions; in fact, those raises are already scheduled.
(click here to see our short PowerPoint on the Commission’s pension fund performance)
There is more to this story and unfortunately it gets worse. I am not asking for money or votes, but I am asking that you study this issue so we can keep the retirement debt from consuming state government.
Sincerely,
Curtis Loftis
Treasurer, State of South Carolina
P.S. Coming soon…several short, informative emails concerning: Pension Debt; The Good and the Bad Actors; Fees and Expenses; Accountability for this $7 Billion Debacle.
Speak Up…