Jump to full article: New York Post, 2009-04-26
Author: ANGELA MONTEFINISE
Intro: Despite Mayor Bloomberg's crusade against cigarettes, city pension funds remain heavily invested in Big Tobacco -- with more than 6 million shares, worth $103 million.
The $82.5 billion pension system owns 6,024,823 shares of Altria, formerly known as Philip Morris, according to an agenda for the company's stockholders meeting next month.
Critics fumed when told that mountains of taxpayer money are being invested in cigarettes, described as "accessories to murder" by the city's own health commissioner in 2006.
"I think it is absurd," City Councilman Tony Avella said. "Given the anti-smoking effort New York has launched, to invest in a company whose primary product is cigarettes is counterproductive." . . .
Four of the city's five pension funds list Altria or Philip Morris among their largest equity holdings in their 2008 annual reports.
The funds have debated tobacco holdings. About 10 years ago, NYCERS decided to stop pouring new money into the companies, but it never divested.
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