Richard Moore out of politics, for now

Finance job next for treasurer

RALEIGH -- State Treasurer Richard Moore had once been viewed as a rising Democratic star in North Carolina. He was a telegenic member of a prominent Tar Heel political family, a graduate of the London School of Economics and surely a future governor or a leader in Congress.

But Moore is cleaning out his office and preparing to return to private life, probably in the finance industry. At the moment, Moore said, he has no interest in a political career.

Moore had hoped to be preparing for his gubernatorial inauguration now. Instead, he is wrapping up eight years as the state's top money manager and preparing to turn his office over to state Sen. Janet Cowell, a Raleigh Democrat who was elected to succeed him.

Moore, 48, seemed philosophical during a recent interview. He said he has put behind him the bitter Democratic primary for governor, which he lost to Gov.-elect Beverly Perdue. He expressed satisfaction with the job he had done as state treasurer, saying he was leaving the office in good shape.

Although there have been heavy losses on Wall Street, Moore said the state's pension fund remains solid. He said the state's portfolio, which secures pension funds for nearly 900,000 people in the state and local retirement system, dropped from $72.3 billion in value at the end of June to $65.9 billion as of Sept. 30.

"State pensioners should not be concerned about their checks," Moore said. "We will finish this year in an overfunded status. We will be one of the top-performing pension plans in the country this year. But we have lost money. We have lost a lot."

Because the state has long had a conservative investment policy -- about half the assets are in fixed-income investments such as bonds -- the state's losses were far less dramatic than in many investment funds.

The state pension fund was down 12 percent for the year ending Sept. 30, compared with the S&P 500, which was down 24 percent, Moore said.

North Carolina is one of three states -- the others are New York and Connecticut -- where an elected state official has sole responsibility for investment of the state's pension fund. There has been talk in the legislature, pushed by the State Employees Association of North Carolina, about creating a committee to oversee the investments.

But Moore doesn't think that idea will gain much support given the strong performance of North Carolina's pension fund. When a single elected leader is in charge, Moore said, he or she can be held accountable.

North Carolina has been rated among the top three state pension systems since 2003 in various national rankings.

During his years in office, Moore has been an outspoken critic about what he saw as abuses on Wall Street and has threatened to use the state's investment leverage to force reform.

This fall, Moore unsuccessfully sought to block Wells Fargo's takeover of Wachovia, a longtime North Carolina institution based in Charlotte. He said he did not understand how the federal government could bail out the nation's top eight financial institutions, except for Wachovia.

He also wondered how a judge could approve Wells Fargo being allowed to vote its bloc of Wachovia shares, worth nearly 40 percent of shareholders' voting power.

"I do not understand why elected officials across North Carolina were not more vocal about us being treated fairly in a business that we will never replace," Moore said. "The state of North Carolina will never have a corporate citizen like Wachovia, with 35,000 really good jobs in the state. Will they all disappear? No. But a lot of really good ones will."

Moore had long been seen as a Democratic comer. He had served as a federal prosecutor, a state legislator, and as secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety under Gov. Jim Hunt.

But for now, Moore said he has no plans to run for political office. That includes a possible campaign against Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Burr in 2010.

"I have no idea how that would look like a year from now or what my appetite would be," Moore said. "But right now, it's not something I'm interested in."

Although he was a lawyer before entering state government, Moore said he is interested in working in finance.

"I have enjoyed managing people's money, and I seem to be pretty good at it," Moore said.