Blue-state pension funds act to balance GOP control in Washington [View All]

[Khephra]

SACRAMENTO -- On issues from global warming to corporate reform, public pension funds controlled by union officials and Democrats in states carried by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry increasingly see themselves as counterweights to Republican control of the nation's political agenda.

As Bush plans a second term, multibillion-dollar investment funds _ especially in so-called "blue states" such as California, New York, Connecticut and Illinois _ have already forged alternate agendas on clean energy, the environment, executive pay, even gay marriage rights that can run counter to "red state" values.

They also view themselves as an increasingly important check on corporate power under a Republican-dominated government that typically promotes fewer regulations on business and financial markets. Their muscle comes in the billions of dollars invested in corporate America.

"We've had no choice but to step up," said California's Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides, a director of the nation's largest and third-largest pension funds with combined values of nearly $300 billion. "This administration has turned its back on ordinary investors, or on issues of substantial concern to our economy."

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--pensionpower1126nov26,0,710807.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire