Statewide Iowa — State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald says he supports withdrawing any state investments in Russian companies, but it’s difficult to do today given the status of Russia’s economy.
Roby Smith is the Republican who’s running against Fitzgerald, a Democrat, in this fall’s election. Smith recently released a statement saying the State of Iowa needs to strategically divest of any Russian securities it may hold and prevent any future investment in Russia with Iowa’s public funds. Fitzgerald has signed onto a statement with 38 other state treasurers calling for public pension funds and other state and local governments to divest from Russia.
Fitzgerald made his comments this weekend on Iowa Press on Iowa PBS. The state treasurer says IPERS — the Iowa Public Employees Retirement System — has mutual funds that have investments in Russian entities. And Russian-linked investments account for about one-half of one percent of the portfolio for the state-run College Savings Iowa plan.
