Pension fund becomes fodder

'Attack' by lieutenant governor irks state treasurer, both gubernatorial hopefuls

While defending his management of the North Carolina pension fund, State Treasurer Richard Moore has helped kick-start the 2008 governor's race.

Supporters of Moore and of Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue -- both of whom are expected to run for the Democratic nomination for governor -- have traded attacks in e-mail that became public this week.

Moore has scheduled a "pen and pad briefing" today to discuss the pension fund, but his staff says it will shut out cameras and other recording equipment for most of the meeting.

The e-mail dispute centers on North Carolina's $70 billion public pension fund, which promises benefits to 700,000 employees and retirees of state and local government. A recent analysis by The Charlotte Observer found that almost half of the outside companies that manage the fund's investments have employed people who gave to Moore's political campaigns.

Moore has raised at least $736,000 from them, and critics call it a conflict of interest. He says he's following the law and the examples set by other statewide officials.

On Monday, Perdue's camp sent e-mail to thousands of supporters with links to Web versions of stories about the fund, including one from the Observer and another from Forbes magazine.

"You may have heard some reference to the article in the March issue of Forbes Magazine regarding the state treasurer," wrote Peter Reichard, Perdue's finance chairman. "I thought you might like to see the article and some of the related articles/editorials that have appeared across the state."

Moore's camp considered the e-mail an attack.

"Bev Perdue's campaign was recently caught distributing a political attack on State Treasurer Richard Moore printed in Forbes magazine," Moore adviser Jay Reiff wrote in e-mail to Moore's supporters. "It is time to set the record straight."

Reiff then described investigations of Perdue's own fundraising in the 1990s.

To rebut criticism further, Moore scheduled the "pen and pad briefing" for 11 a.m. today. Such briefings are common in Washington when politicians want an informal setting to give context that is still on the record. But there is little precedent for them around the state capital.

Hugh Stevens, a First Amendment lawyer in Raleigh, said the policy appeared to be legal under state law, but he called it unusual.

"It inherently discriminates against certain news organizations," Stevens said. "Usually, when someone has something important enough to say that they call a press conference, it's sort of, 'The more the merrier, and bring your cameras.' "