Texas is the Latest State to Join 18 Other States to Stand Up Against BlackRock’s Woke Policies

Texas is the most recent state to join a coalition of Republican-led states accusing BlackRock Inc. of putting woke investment criteria on a pedestal at the expense of shareholder profits in state pension funds.

19 attorneys general from predominantly conservative states sent a letter to BlackRock CEO Larry Fink where they challenged the investment management company’s use of environmental, social, and governance criteria to make key business decisions at the expense of investor returns.

In a press release that was published on August 8, 2022, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claimed that ESG climate goals hurt Texas’s extractive economy, such as oil and gas, and Texas’ state pension fund performance.

The release said that BlackRock’s actions may be in violation of federal and state laws. 

Black is the largest asset manager in the world. According to a report by Darlene McCormick Sanchez at The Epoch Times, it sent a letter to several states asserting that it has teamed up with climate organizations just for the purposes of “dialogue” and is primarily focused on its fiduciary duty. 

Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is the one spearheading this effort to take BlackRock to task. The letter he and 18 other attorneys general signed on to demonstrate the conflicts and inconsistencies that are in BlackRock’s letter and the commitments and statements it has made in public. 

Per a news release that Brnovich’s office published, BlackRock’s campaign is more than just “dialogue.” 

Brnovich argued that any individual buying a BlackRock fund is compelled to support ESG. 

In the letter that Brnovich published on August 4, he argued BlackRock’s actions bring up anti-trust concerns and appear to purposely hurt and impede energy markets’ competitiveness. 

“Our states will not idly stand for our pensioners’ retirements to be sacrificed for BlackRock’s climate agenda. The time has come for BlackRock to come clean on whether it actually values our states’ most valuable stakeholders, our current and future retirees, or risk losses even more significant than those caused by BlackRock’s quixotic climate agenda,” the letter stated.

It’s good to see Republicans no longer blindly worshiping finance capital. This letter is a good first start. However, there needs to be concrete political action taken against these companies. Red states need to start considering banning woke corporations from setting up shop in their respective jurisdictions and craft policies that promote local small and medium-sized business instead. 

Letting hostile economic entities operate freely just gives the cultural Left another attack vector against red states.

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