By Merle Boucher, Joan Heckaman, Jerry Kelsh and Benjamin Vig
BISMARCK -- The Herald's editorial board is right to say that all North Dakotans should "heed local 'pension tsunami' warnings" (editorial, Page D1, May 30).
This is an issue that everyone should be paying attention to.
Make no mistake about it:The pension shortfall is and will be a major issue in North Dakota. The fund is short $600 million to $2 billion.
It affects not only our hard working teachers and public employees, but also all taxpayers.
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But when urging that all listen to the warnings, let's be clear on who in state government is issuing the warnings and trying to get to the bottom of the mess and who is wishing that everyone would stop paying attention.
It was Democratic-NPL legislators who called for the performance audit of the State Investment Board, and the Republicans who voted it down.
We called for the audit not only because of the circumstance surrounding the death of its former director, Steve Cochrane, but also because of the questions that exist about the fees that our state pays to investment managers and the investment policies of the board.
Right now, it looks like we paid a few people a lot of money in fees to take on more risk and ultimately lose millions of dollars.
Excessive fees and poor investment strategies have been plaguing the nation. It is only right that we look into our own practices.
On top of those reasons, a state performance audit is just good governance. The Legislature will be tasked with fixing this hole, and we have to know how we got in this situation.
We also must know if there are any changes that the Legislature should consider. Without that, we're blindly committing your tax dollars.
After feeling the pressure, the State Investment Board expanded the scope of its internal audit. Unfortunately, their audit expansion simply focuses more attention on former director Steve Cochrane and fails to address practices over the longer period of time when losses were incurred.
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The board should know that should that audit not provide sufficient answers, we will continue to call for a comprehensive state performance audit. As stewards of the taxpayers' money, it is the right thing to do.
Boucher, D-Rolette, is minority leader of the North Dakota House. Also in the House, Kelsh, D-Fullerton, represents District 26, and Vig, D-Aneta, represents District 23.
Heckaman, D-New Rockford, represents District 23 in the North Dakota Senate.
