NYC Pension Fund "Lagged" Under Thompson

The NY Times questions City Comptroller William Thompson's management of the NYC pension fund, reporting, "A review of how the $80 billion system has performed since he took office shows it has consistently lagged behind many of its public pension peers even as the city tripled the number of money managers it uses and the fees that it pays those firms." What's more, Thompson, who is running for mayor, has "[collected] more than $500,000 in campaign contributions from its growing roster of money managers since he first entered the 2001 race for comptroller. In some cases, the executives gave to Mr. Thompson just months before the pension funds hired them to manage tens of millions of dollars, according to interviews and public records." Thompson says that there have been tough years and that the NYC pension fund does match the Russell 3000 ("a broad stock market index")—the Times used "a widely used financial yardstick compiled by Wilshire Associates, an investment advisory firm" to measure the city's fund performance. Update: In March, the Post ran a story about Thompson's donations from investment firms that manage pension funds; the Citizens Union's Dick Dadey said, "I question why these donors feel a need to contribute. They are out-of-state donors. It certainly isn't out of civic interest because they don't vote here."