Let me summarize this NRO article by Deroy Murdock: Democratic (specifically, Barack Obama’s) rhetoric about Bain Capital has not particularly stopped Democratic-aligned organizations from investing with it. This includes groups like government employee pension funds ($1.56 billion since 2008), universities ($at least 425 million between 1998-2008), ‘center-left foundations and cultural establishments’… and my personal favorite: the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CSTRS), which has invested $1.25 billion with Bain Capital. And I want to highlight what CSTRS told the Boston Globe about why:
A spokesman for the system, Ricardo Duran, says in an e-mail that its fiduciary duty to 856,000 members and their families is paramount. “With that as a backdrop,” he says, “the scrutiny generated by a heated election year matters less than the performance the portfolio generates to the fund.” And private equity, Duran says, has been the best-performing asset class in the system’s portfolio over the past 24 years.
