Peerless investigative journalist David Sirota writes that the state of Kentucky tells teachers and other public employees that they have no right to know where the state is investing their pension funds or what fees are charged by the investment firms.

 

If you’re a public school teacher in Kentucky, the state has a message for you: You have no right to know the details of the investments being made with your retirement savings. That was the crux of the declaration issued by state officials to a high school history teacher when he asked to see the terms of the agreements between the Kentucky Teachers’ Retirement System and the Wall Street firms that are managing the system’s money on behalf of him, his colleagues and thousands of retirees.

 

In rejecting the request from history teacher Randy Wieck, KTRS general counsel Robert Barnes said the terms of the agreements represent “trade secrets” and that disclosing them would provide “an unfair commercial advantage” to the firms’ competitors.

 

The denial was the latest case of public officials blocking the release of information about how billions of dollars of public employees’ retirement nest eggs are being invested. Though some of the fine print of the investments has occasionally leaked — and created an uproar — the agreements are tightly held in most states and cities. Critics say such secrecy has prevented lawmakers and the public from being able to evaluate the propriety of the increasing fees being paid to private financial firms for pension management services. They also say that the secrecy prevents the public from knowing if the deals comport with rules governing public pension investments.

 

The states of Illinois and Rhode Island have similarly refused to reveal where public pension funds are invested or what the terms of the investment are. They are “trade secrets,” they say.