"The Pension Offensive".

• Author: Greifer, Nicholas
• Position: Pensions and Benefits

Penelope Lemov

Governing, September 2002, pp.

Two enormous events--a falling stock market and widespread corporate malfeasance--have dramatically altered the posture of public pension funds. Because of the financial damage inflicted upon pension funds multi-billion dollar portfolios, and because a portion of those losses may have been caused by corporate misdeeds, pension officials are now seeking legal remedies that would potentially restore some of their lost investments. The movement appears to be national in scope, with officials in Houston, Iowa, Massachusetts, Florida, Alabama, and New York pursuing or considering securities litigation. Although securities litigation seeks to remedy past problems, pension systems also are promoting changes in corporate governance that would prevent future scandals and future. A large part of this preventative effort is to use voting rights and other forms of leverage to establish more transparent corporate...