Oregon Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner seems to think that cheerleading will somehow help revive the dismal investment performance of the Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund (OPERF).

In a press release issued after the December 3 meeting of the Oregon Investment Council (OIC), the body that oversees OPERF, Treasurer Steiner once again highlighted a few shreds of good news while mentioning nothing about the fund’s unprecedented four-year long investment meltdown. She issued a similar press release after last month’s OIC meeting, as I pointed out in my op-ed published by Lookout Eugene-Springfield on October 8  highlighting the skyrocketing pension costs across all public agencies. Poor investment returns are a significant factor in these cost increases.

By downplaying the seriousness of OPERF’s debacle, Treasurer Steiner may be parroting what she hears from existing staff and advisors, the same people that have driven the investments into the ditch. The Treasurer needs to do better, as does the Investment Council itself. Unquestioning acceptance of recommendations by staff and advisors has without doubt contributed to today’s mess. That needs to change, as I detailed in my testimony to the Investment Council at its December 3 meeting.

Failure to acknowledge the extent of the investment crisis and slow walking its solutions only serve to delay attacking the problem with the urgency it requires.