State Street still using DEI to curry favor with leftist state officials despite Wall Street clampdown

Woke investing has faced a clampdown on Wall Street, but if its critics are to be believed State Street – one of the biggest asset managers in the US – is still using it to curry favor with leftist state and local officials who control hundreds of billions of dollars in pension money, The Post has learned.State Street’s work involving controversial Diversity Equity and Inclusion and green energy policies — where it facilitates woke shareholder votes on behalf of some of its big, public pension clients — has sparked chatter on Wall Street and Washington following New York City Comptroller Brad Lander’s move last month to block rival BlackRock as a manager of the city’s pension fund. In a recent posting on X,  Alabama GOP senator Tommy Tuberville said State Street, which manages $8 billion in city pension money overseen by Lander, is “already caving to the WOKE Mamdani climate agenda before he has even taken office.” Lander is a key supporter of the socialist New York City mayor elect Zohran Mandani, who himself supports policies such as DEI and green energy.For its part, State Street says it’s getting a bad rap — and it has some strong evidence suggesting as much.The bank offers nearly a dozen such proxy-voting frameworks for pension funds, including those that appeal to Red State public officials that steer clear of anything woke.It doesn’t engage directly with US companies to push stuff like Diversity Equity and Inclusion employment policies or green energy.

Rather it facilitates shareholder votes on these measures for progressive pension-fund clients, people like Lander — the fiduciary of the city retirement funds — during what’s known as “proxy season,” when big investors get to vote on corporate governance proposals.Yet the controversy is real. Lander isn’t looking to ditch BlackRock – headed by investing prodigy Larry Fink – because it has done a bad job managing the retirement funds of the city’s firemen, teach...