Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Janet Cowell: The Treasurer of Wall Street

A review of State Treasurer campaign finance records from www.FollowTheMoney.org shows North Carolina State Treasurer Cowell ranks 3rd in the United States in raising campaign funds from out of state.  Only treasurers from Rhode Island and Iowa raise more campaign funds as a percentage from out of state, and North Carolina Treasurer Cowell actually raised more in dollar terms than both of those states, combined.  

With $782,507, North Carolina Treasurer Cowell raised 10 times the national median from out-of-state campaign contributions.  Which begs the question, "Whose treasurer is she?"  With 40-42% of all of Treasurer Cowell's campaign contributions coming from outside the state of North Carolina, one may conclude Cowell is NOT North Carolina's Treasurer. And, considering Treasurer Cowell even holds campaign fund raisers in New York City, Cowell appears to be the "Treasurer of Wall Street."

   Total Campaign    % Raised    $ Raised
Rank State Treasurer    Funds Raised    Out-of-State    Out-of-State
1 Rhode Island Gina Raimondo $914,216 50% $457,108
2 Iowa Michael Fitzgerald $303,658 48% $145,756
3 North Carolina Janet Cowell $1,863,113 42% $782,507
4 Nevada Kate Marshall $685,101 36% $246,636
5 Colorado Walker Stapleton $932,353 28% $261,059
6 Pennsylvania Rob McCord $6,070,400 25% $1,517,600
7 Ohio Josh Mandel $5,305,421 23% $1,220,247
8 Louisiana John Neely Kennedy $6,258,801 22% $1,376,936
9 West Virginia John Perdue $1,298,997 21% $272,789
10 Arkansas Martha Shoffner $444,275 21% $93,298
11 North Dakota Kelly Schmidt $37,837 21% $7,946
12 Connecticut Denise L. Nappier $1,235,062 19% $234,662
13 Idaho Ron Crane $212,793 18% $38,303
14 Massachusetts Steven Grossman $1,801,309 16% $288,209
15 New Mexico James B. Lewis $344,286 16% $55,086
16 Mississippi Lynn Fitch $1,038,120 12% $124,574
17 Wyoming Joe Meyer $205,024 11% $22,553
18 New York Thomas DiNapoli $5,811,663 10% $581,166
19 Missouri Clint Zweifel $1,691,315 10% $169,132
20 Delaware Chip Flowers $290,449 10% $29,045
21 Indiana Richard Mourdock $868,400 9% $78,156
22 California Bill Lockyer $21,514,309 8% $1,721,145
23 Washington James McIntire $499,570 8% $39,966
24 Florida Jeff Atwater $6,887,622 6% $413,257
25 Alabama Young Boozer $822,562 5% $41,128
26 Kentucky Todd Hollenbach $314,822 5% $15,741
27 Arizona Doug Ducey $1,191,349 4% $47,654
28 South Dakota Rich Sattgast $64,465 4% $2,579
29 Oklahoma Ken A. Miller $813,623 3% $24,409
30 Oregon Ted Wheeler $747,956 2% $14,959
31 Nebraska Don Stenberg $93,500 2% $1,870
32 Utah Richard Ellis $69,750 2% $1,395
33 Texas Susan Combs $14,995,971 1% $149,960
34 Illinois Dan Rutherford $5,409,346 1% $54,093
35 South Carolina Curtis Loftis $839,471 1% $8,395
36 Kansas Ron Estes $103,355 1% $1,034
37 Wisconsin Kurt W. Schuller $840 0% $0
38 Vermont Elizabeth Pearce
                    Median 10% $78,156
Appointed:  Alaska, Georgia, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia
Elected by legislature:  Tennessee

Within North Carolina, long lists of employees from Franklin Street Partners and Womble Carlyle contributed more than $77 thousand in 2008.  Both firms now have very lucrative contracts with the State Treasurer's office.

A review of North Carolina Treasurer Cowell's campaign finance records downloaded from the North Carolina State Board of Elections website reveals pages and pages of contributions from investment managers.  In states such as California, New Jersey, and Connecticut, such contributions are illegal.  Thus, if Cowell were Treasurer of one of those states, she'd be in jail instead of in office.  

Other findings within Cowell's campaign records shows the Treasurer has held a number of campaign fund raisers in New York City including three events in 2008 and one in 2011. But Treasurer Cowell has also expanded to other areas with two events in Washington DC, one in Atlanta, and one in Austin.  

04/10/2008 - Washington DC
04/25/2008 - New York City
07/31/2008 - New York City
09/24/2008 - New York City
10/09/2008 - Atlanta
10/10/2008 - Pennsylvania
09/19/2011 - Austin, TX
07/19/2011 - New York City
08/18/2011 - Washington DC


So far this election cycle, Cowell has raised 50% of her campaign contributions from out-side North Carolina. Shockingly, Cowell has raised more money from New York City than Charlotte!

In fiscal 2011, the North Carolina State Treasurer's office paid an estimated $250-300 million to external investment managers out of the North Carolina Retirement System's pension fund.  Apparently, North Carolina Treasurer Cowell is deemed so vital to New York City's economic future that an employee of New York City contributed to Cowell's campaign fund on 12/28/2011.  The New York City employee's title is "Director of Long Term Planning and Sustainability."  



2 comments:

  1. See http://carolinacrimereport.com for a list of all of Janet Cowell's violations of SEC law.
    Cowell has no investment license, and the state auditor found the NC pension was overstated by $663 million. And the pension is paying a non existent pensioner named Ed Davidan $315,000 per year!

    N&O: NC State Pension Paying $315,000 per year to non-existent pensioner
    Posted on April 3, 2012 by CarolinaCrimeReport
    http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/05/08/v-print/472772/260-have-state-pensions-of-100000.html

    ReplyDelete
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