PSERS Members, Policymakers, and the Public: On Feb. 19, the Philadelphia Inquirer published a one-sided article/column attacking PSERS administration and its investment professionals. The Inquirer gave little to no space to PSERS to respond to criticisms leveled by ex-state Treasurer Joe Torsella and his handpicked, taxpayer-funded consultants who criticized PSERS' investment philosophies and practices to contain investment risks and costs.
We believe it is important for you to have all the information that the Inquirer chose not include for its readers. To that end, we are publishing our full responses, which included citations to public records, we provided to The Philadelphia Inquirer in response to their emailed questions and comments. We urge you to read PSERS material to decide the facts for yourself.
In addition to providing our material, PSERS notes the Inquirer article had three factual errors:
- PSERS administration did not deny Mr. Torsella or his agency staff from ever "seeing" any investment or vendor contracts as the article states. Public contract details are posted to a website maintained by the Pennsylvania Treasury. However, contracts often include negotiated or propriety non-public information. When Mr. Torsella and his staff asked to see contracts, PSERS administration invited them to PSERS headquarters to review the contracts provided they signed non-disclosure agreements (NDA). The NDA was a legal necessity to ensure the contracts' non-public terms between PSERS and investment managers were not publicly disclosed in violation of contract terms, Pennsylvania Right to Know law and Public School Retirement Code, potentially causing the Fund to incur unnecessary litigation costs. Mr. Torsella and his staff chose not to sign the non-disclosure agreements and therefore the did not accept PSERS invitation. In addition, all trustees are provided with confidential contractual material prior to public meetings where they vote on investment contracts.
- The commission's consultants were not "hired by Torsella and the other commissioners" as the article states. The commission's consultants, Ashby Monk and Ludovic Phalippou, whom were quoted by the Inquirer, were hired by Torsella and Treasury as evidenced by at least three public documents (hyperlinked below) the journalist had access to:
- Page 27 of the commission report, which states Mr. Torsella used his agency' budget to hire the consultants.
- The Commission's May 30, 2018 meeting minutes, which states in part "VIII. ANNOUNCEMENT OF TREASURY'S EXTERNAL CONSULTANT Treas. Torsella announced that, as part of their work in support of the commission, Treasury has engaged Dr. Ashby Monk as an external consultant. …"
- Drs. Monk and Phalippou's contracts, available on Treasury's website, clearly state they are paid by Treasury, work for Treasury and are sworn to confidentiality by Treasury.
- The Inquirer did not include opinions or comments from the House Democratic Caucus' hired commission consultant who wrote his own "independent review" report that offered different opinions and recommendations than Treasury's consultants.
- Mr. Torsella did not cause PSERS to livestream its meetings as the article implies. Meetings are now streamed to protect the health and safety of trustees, staff and the public during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Distefano response on Joe Torsella's PSERS impact.pdf
Feb. 1 DiStefano response on charts.pdf