RETIREMENT BOARD VOTES AGAINST DIVESTING TOBACCO STOCK.Byline: Jennifer Klein Klein , Melanie 1882-1960. Austrian-born British psychoanalyst who first introduced play therapy and was the first to use psychoanalysis to treat young children. Staff Writer VENTURA - The county's Board of Retirement decided Monday to retain its tobacco investments, saying it needs to maintain fiscal responsibility rather than traversing tra·verse v. tra·versed, tra·vers·ing, tra·vers·es v.tr. 1. To travel or pass across, over, or through. 2. To move to and fro over; cross and recross. 3. a slippery slope 'slippery slope' Medical ethics An ethical continuum or 'slope,' the impact of which has been incompletely explored, and which itself raises moral questions that are even more on the ethical 'edge' than the original issue into socially conscious investing. The board voted over the objection A formal attestation or declaration of disapproval concerning a specific point of law or procedure during the course of a trial; a statement indicating disagreement with a judge's ruling. of member Frank Schillo, who said it was contradictory for the county to spend tobacco taxes and tobacco settlement money for smoking prevention programs while still investing in Big Tobacco. ``We need to make a statement in good conscience about what we are about,'' Schillo said, who also is a member of the Board of Supervisors. However, the 10-member board's majority feared such an action could lead to other moves to pull out of different companies, said board Chairman William Wilson Many real people and fictitious characters share the name William Wilson, or variations such as Bill or Willlie Wilson, including:
The Ventura County Employee Retirement Association oversees a $2.3 billion retirement fund, and the county has $14.8 million invested in tobacco companies. If the board were to divest To deprive or take away. Divest is usually used in reference to the relinquishment of authority, power, property, or title. If, for example, an individual is disinherited, he or she is divested of the right to inherit money. , it would initially cost $143,000 and $140,000 in subsequent years in additional managers' fees, said Howard Perlow, managing director of Investor Force Consulting, in a report to the board. ``In looking at this from an investment perspective . . . by limiting your universe, you limit your potential,'' Perlow said. But Schillo insisted that because it is a public pension, the board needed to step forward to divest itself. The county stands to receive $250 million in tobacco settlement money over the next 25 years and $11.7 million annually from the 50 cents-a-pack tobacco tax. Schillo said that the county treasurer invests in government stocks government stocks government npl → Staatspapiere pl, Staatsanleihen pl . He also pointed out that tobacco company stocks have been doing poorly the last couple of years, and that it would make good economic sense to sell the stock. The county counsel cautioned the board against the move. ``The board has never taken a position that any manager have to to buy a specific stock or a particular category of stock,'' County Counsel Lawrence Matheney told the board. ``I'm concerned about stepping in.'' |
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