A group of blue state officials are attempting to use their pension funds to kick out the board of ExxonMobil because the firm has successfully sued to block an attempt by an activist group to place a proposal on the company's ballot that is hostile to the oil and gas industry. In addition, these states are pressuring Blackrock, JPMorgan Chase, and other asset managers to also vote against the Exxon board. In this episode of Meeting of Minds, Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming explains that if this unprecedented act of intimidation were to succeed, how devastating it would be to his home state, America, and the world. The Treasurer tells why he has urged the pension plans of Louisiana not to participate in this blue state corporate coup attempt (Treasurer Fleming condemns plot to take over Exxon (kedm.org)), and why his fellow red state treasurers have urged America's largest asset managers also not to participate (U.S. Republican states support Exxon in shareholder activism dispute | Reuters). He explains that what is truly at stake is the modern economy itself.

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The battle between red states and ESG is raging in Oklahoma right now. The pro-energy Treasurer Todd Russ is suffering massive backlash for attempting to enforce a law which calls upon the state to not do business with asset managers such as Blackrock that boycott or seek to harm the fossil fuel industry. Russ found himself on the receiving end of a lawsuit from a union boss and attacks from numerous directions, including the Republican Attorney General of the state. Jerry talks in this episode with Tom Jones, President of the American Accountability Foundation (American Accountability Foundation), who has used Freedom of Information Requests to demonstrate the secretive and cozy relationship between various public officials who have been attacking Russ and an influential Blackrock lobbyist. AAF uncovers a disturbing pattern of public officials coordinating strategy with a company blacklisted by the state for acting against the interests of the state’s energy industry. This interview should be a wake-up call to conservative Oklahomans to see that the swamp isn’t just in Washington DC, but everyplace where special interests work against the interests of the people.

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Over twenty states have passed legislation that prohibits the state entrusting the management of state assets to companies that seek to harm the fossil fuel industry. Many of these states have been under attack by mysterious, well-funded, coordinated efforts to discredit those laws and the financial officials who are enforcing them. Right now that backlash is falling hardest against Oklahoma, it's anti-ESG law, and Treasurer Todd Russ, whose job it is to enforce it. Russ talks with Jerry and brings the goods on how Blackrock works against his state's principal industry. He details how, when he attempted to fire Blackrock from managing state assets, out-of-towners with "large briefcases of money" showed up and suddenly there were lawsuits, mysteriously funded studies supportive of Blackrock, and media campaigns launched against the law and himself. Russ explains why it's not just Oklahoma jobs at stake, but the whole world, which needs Oklahoma's energy to stay warm and fed.

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