Pension Trustees

I read with amusement the front-page story “Firms Pick Up Travel Tab for State Pension Officials” (Sept. 8).

As a teacher of political science at Cal State Fullerton and a contributor to the Public Employees’ Retirement System, I was pleased to learn that my pension funds are being supervised by people aware that we live in a global economy.

I have no choice but to trust that these officials will make the wisest financial decisions possible given the worldwide options existing in the international marketplace.

While I favor public disclosure of such junkets sponsored by lobbyists, I am fascinated by the hypocrisy of Assemblyman Dave Elder (D-San Pedro) who expresses shock at discovering that trustees of state workers’ assets avail themselves of capitalists’ largess in the time-honored manner of legislators.

As long as we are citizen-subjects of a capitalist system I, for one, am glad to see the trustees of these enormous assets cashing in on the interest-group politics usually championed as the peculiar genius of U.S. democracy.

I believe diversifying pension fund investments internationally is a wise move and fervently hope our trustees exercise independent and hard-nosed judgments with the capital at their disposal.

VERA SIMONE

Fullerton