NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Kansas-based economist and former State Treasurer candidate Michael Austin is going to be working with the State Financial Officers Foundation in a research capacity.
"It's a membership organization of state treasurers, state auditors, state financial officers from all across the country," Austin said. "As a fellow, I'll provide research and counsel on pension reform, budget transparency and how to fight ESG to state financial officers all across the country."
Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing refers to a set of standards that socially conscious investors use to screen investments.
"ESG is a far left political scorecard for investing," Austin said. "It's a coercion tactic in the business community. The problem, of course, is that it uses your investment dollars to push this left-wing agenda, all without your approval."
Of particular concern to SFOF is the use of funds like those in public pension systems to push what conservative economists see as an agenda that seeks to fundamentally change how we feed and fuel the world.
"There are many people out here in the midwest, in Kansas, that are tied to oil and gas," Austin said. "Because of ESG, there is a concerted effort to remove investment dollars away from oil and natural gas companies, when we most certainly know natural gas is the best way for us to gain heat and that there are so many jobs tied to fossil fuel production and extraction from the ground."
SFOF, as a free-market organization, believes that the states in the U.S. with the soundest financial condition and with the highest credit ratings are generally those that have been managed conservatively with small government, pro-growth policies.