SOUTH CAROLINA STATE TREASURER CURTIS LOFTIS UNDETERRED BY RETALIATION, PERSONAL ATTACKS

Loftis vows to continue fighting for retirees and taxpayers, despite political stunts following his vote against lavish bonuses awarded to state employees for mediocre performance.

 (Columbia, SC) – In retaliation for exposing the practice of rewarding poor performance and paying exorbitant fees, the Retirement Systems Investment Commission has resorted to more personal attacks on State Treasurer Curtis Loftis.

“Here we go again – another political stunt and personal attack from the entrenched establishment at the Retirement Systems Investment Commission for my shining the light of transparency on the way business has been conducted for far too long,” Loftis explained. “These tactics are nothing new, in fact with each success I have, the efforts to silence me have become more vicious. Chairman Reynolds Williams has stated that it’s his goal to ‘separate Loftis from the voters’, illustrating that he would rather play politics through the media and protect his $27 billion fiefdom from public scrutiny than to prudently invest the pension funds. Even after the Attorney General, Budget & Control Board, outside expert counsel and the Inspector General all found the Chairman in the wrong for restricting access to information; Williams continues to fight me at every turn to conceal his failures of leadership and continue business as usual.”

Loftis continued, “The Chairman has good reasons to hide behind the cloak of secrecy. He wants to hide that we pay over $300 million a year in investment fees to Wall Street. He wants to hide that South Carolina is ranked in the top 10% of highest investment fees in the nation while our returns regularly rank in the bottom 25%. He wants to hide that $1.4 million in bonuses were paid to fourteen staff members, including an employee who received a $300,000 bonus on top of his $300,000 salary while the pension underperformed.”

Treasurer Loftis further stated, “With each success I’ve had for transparency comes another political attack by the Chairman. He would be better served by joining my efforts to increase investment returns than to demagogue and employ childish and hostile personal attacks. These political stunts will neither silence me nor deter my resolve in fighting for the investment returns that retirees depend on and deserve.”

Loftis concluded, “My battles for transparency often involve 70 hour work weeks and countless artificial barriers placed in my way by the Chairman. However, I promised to protect the people’s money no matter how many bruises I collected along the way from the elite special interests that will stop at nothing to preserve their lavish lifestyles and power over the people’s tax dollars.”

Examples of Treasurer Loftis’ transparency achievements include exposing:

• $750 million of unreported investment fees and expenses;
• $300 million a year in investment fees and expenses paid to Wall Street;
• Pay top 10% of investment fees and expenses in the nation;
• Routinely rank in the bottom 25% in investment performance;
• $1.3 billion in unachieved returns due to below average investment returns over 3 years;
• Rank in the top 10% for bonuses awarded despite mediocre performance;
• $1.4 million in bonuses awarded to 14 staff.

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