It's about numbers of votes and how to get them.

[Tal Vez]

9. Pension funds have to be invested.

Believe it or not, the State of California does not own a seat on the NYSE. In order to efficiently participate in the stock market, an investor (like a state pension fund) has to buy and sell stock through the use of Wall Street firms that do have a seat on the exchange. Similarly, firms must be hired to issue bonds and other financial instruments.

It was suggested that Unruh remained aware of which firms had contributed to his party when choosing which firms the pension fund would use in buying and selling stocks. If you were the State Treasurer, how would you go about selecting firms? Would you select firms that were more closely associated with Republican politicians?

I suppose you might say that the State Treasurer should choose ignorance and should not be aware of which party was receiving the contributions of various firms. But, that's like saying you want a State Treasurer who is extremely ignorant. I am going to suggest that Unruh may not have been the first State Treasurer who knew the politics of various Wall Street firms. I am going to suggest that each and every one of them knew. But, it became more fascinating when Big Daddy Unruh became Treasurer.

Unruh's point was that receiving a campaign contribution is not an excuse for voting against the interests of the people.