The Democratic candidate for attorney general is calling on the state’s watchdog agency to investigate the circumstances surrounding the Virginia Retirement System’s investment in Star Scientific stock last year.
“The fact that our state’s pension fund would decide to invest in Star Scientific, a company that has suffered tens of millions of dollars in losses over the past decade, raises the possibility of serious flaws in the processes by which investment professionals within the Virginia Retirement System choose investments on behalf of our state employees,” state Sen. Mark R. Herring, D-Loudoun writes in a letter to Del. John O’Bannon, R-Henrico and Sen. John Watkins, R-Powhatan.
They are chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission.
“I ask that you initiate a review…to determine who, if anyone, communicated directly or indirectly, wtih VRS about this stock, company, or Mr. Williams,” he asks, referring to Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams Sr. JLARC has legislative oversight of the Virginia Retirement System.
Good for Senator Mark Herring for watching the backs and thus the pocketbooks of Virginia public employees. Herring is correct. Why would a solid pension fund with billions of dollars invest in some piss-ant company like Star Scientific. Life is not that random. Whoever made that investment decision needs to go. We need to ensure that the investment managers are making professional decisions based on careful financial analysis, not investments that involve personal or political favoritism.
