According to a recent report published earlier this month, the most prominent banks in the country are being led by Democratic Party operatives in their near-religious dedication to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) norms.
A 47-page analysis detailing the connections between the “Big Three” institutional stakeholders; BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street with Democratic lawmakers with a history of radical activity was released on August 9 by the American Accountability Foundation (AAF), a nonprofit government watchdog.
“The number of liberal staffers that are now serving in influential roles in financial firms raises the question — has a new ‘revolving door’ come to Washington?” analysts penned in their report memo. “While traditionally D.C. staffers will go from official positions to K Street — there now seems to be a new trend emerging of D.C. staffers going from official positions to Wall Street.”
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said, none of it is their money, referring to the roughly $22 trillion in assets managed by the “Big Three.” This study was titled “‘None of It is Our Money’: An Introduction to the Leftist Activists and Liberal DC Insiders at BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street Using Your Money to Advance Their Political Agenda” because the assets at stake are pension funds, 401(k)s, and IRAs funded by taxpayers.
NEW: @BlackRock CEO Larry Fink accidentally says the quiet part out-loud:
The money he’s using to push his ESG agenda at home and prop up the CCP abroad is not his money. It’s shareholders’ money.
He’s taking your money and betting on China. pic.twitter.com/BIfKu6QjTc
— Will Hild (@WillHild) July 20, 2022
West Virginia’s Republican Treasurer Riley Moore withdrew the state’s funds from BlackRock stewardship in January due to the firm’s promotion of ESG standards at the expense of its clients.
“Environmental issues in particular have become important to these asset managers,” AAF researchers wrote. “All three of BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street are signatories to the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative — which requires signers to commit to an investment strategy aligned with achieving net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”
The emissions-free movement has deprived West Virginia and other areas wealthy in fossil fuels of much-needed investment because businesses are wary of undertaking projects that could lower their ESG scores or their “social capital” on the left.
The AAF study highlighted numerous key players within the “stewardship” teams accountable for mediating investor involvement at the three largest companies. For instance, BlackRock’s Jon Rosen, who authored Fink’s annual letter to shareholders, is a former member of the Obama administration and a 2008 campaign worker for the former president. Per the article, Rosen made contributions to Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign while working at BlackRock. One day after ten people were killed in a shooting in Buffalo in May, this same Rosen accused Republicans of endorsing “mass murder.”
AAF also brought up State Street’s VP of Asset Stewardship, Holly Fetter, who is a radical leftist activist and sits on the boards of multiple leftist organizations, including the North Star Fund, which is backed by George Soros. Soros, the Democratic Party’s mega-donor, has given over $850,000 to the North Star Fund since 2016. The group hosted a rally in August of 2020 with the slogan “abolish, defund, reform” police.
Her experience at Stanford University, where she taught a class titled “What is whiteness?” is also on Fetter’s resume.
John Galloway is the chief of investment governance at Vanguard on a worldwide scale. Galloway served in the OMB and the NEC under President Obama. After leaving the Obama administration, Galloway directed a Georgetown University initiative called Future44, whose mission was to help his fellow Obama presidency colleges find private sector jobs.