 |
| Jackie Robinson |
NewsNM note - This column is updated. It first ran one year ago.
Today, every major league baseball player will wear # 42, paying fitting tribute to one of America's greatest citizens, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson. In watching the games on this special day we were reminded of the remarkable experience of a New Mexico-based money management firm attending an "Emerging Manager Conference" in Chicago a few years ago.
After their arrival in the Windy City the firm's principals soon learned they were legally barred from doing business with the State of Illinois. Believe it or not, Illinois actually has a gender and racially oriented exclusion law regarding the hiring of emerging money managers. The law requires emerging money managers hired by the state to NOT be white men. Below is the verbatim portion of the applicable legal language in the statute: Goals for Utilization of Minority-Owned Businesses, Female-Owned Businesses, and Businesses Owned by Persons with a Disability - ........1 Effective April 3, 2009, Public Act 96-0006 revised the definition of “emerging investment manager.” As a result, the current definition applicable to ISBI is found in 40 ILCS 5/1-109(4) and is defined as “a qualified investment adviser that manages an investment portfolio of at least $10,000,000 but less than $10,000,000,000 and is a “minority owned business,” female owned business or business owned by a person with a disability as those terms are defined in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Females, and Persons with Disabilities Act.”
Today, every major league baseball player will wear # 42, paying fitting tribute to one of America's greatest citizens, Jackie Roosevelt Robinson. In watching the games on this special day we were reminded of the remarkable experience of a New Mexico-based money management firm attending an "Emerging Manager Conference" in Chicago a few years ago.
After their arrival in the Windy City the firm's principals soon learned they were legally barred from doing business with the State of Illinois. Believe it or not, Illinois actually has a gender and racially oriented exclusion law regarding the hiring of emerging money managers. The law requires emerging money managers hired by the state to NOT be white men. Below is the verbatim portion of the applicable legal language in the statute: Goals for Utilization of Minority-Owned Businesses, Female-Owned Businesses, and Businesses Owned by Persons with a Disability - ........1 Effective April 3, 2009, Public Act 96-0006 revised the definition of “emerging investment manager.” As a result, the current definition applicable to ISBI is found in 40 ILCS 5/1-109(4) and is defined as “a qualified investment adviser that manages an investment portfolio of at least $10,000,000 but less than $10,000,000,000 and is a “minority owned business,” female owned business or business owned by a person with a disability as those terms are defined in the Business Enterprise for Minorities, Females, and Persons with Disabilities Act.”
Stunned, the head of marketing for the New Mexico-based management firm tracked down a local Illinois expert. He was asked for a clear interpretation of the language in the statute. The consultant shrugged when questioned and said, "It simply means so long as a firm is NOT majority owned by white males it can compete for the state's emerging manager contracts."
The good news for the New Mexico management firm was its white male owners were not denied hotel rooms, water, or food service at the restaraunts where the conference was being held. The bad news was it found itself tricked into paying a tidy sum to co-sponsor an event in a state where it was statutorily BARRED from winning contracts to manage public money solely based on the color of the skin and gender of the majority of owners.
One of the principals mused after the return to New Mexico that the overt racial and gender discrimination built into the Illinois statutes had somehow managed to make the subtle non-merit-based culture of corruption that has been part of New Mexico's pay-to-play system for state contracts under Bill Richardson seem almost fair. But the big question remains, "What would Jackie Robinson say?"
Update - The firm mentioned in this piece last year was recently named the national Emerging Midcap Manager of the Year by Emerging Manager Monthly. But of course since it is still majority owned by white males, it is still ineligible to be hired by the state of Illinois (and several other states) for public funds. So far Illinois-based Jesse Jackson has not seen fit to tackle this remarkable case of state-sponsored race and gender discrimination....even on Jackie Robinson Day.
 |
| Jesse Jackson |
Update - The firm mentioned in this piece last year was recently named the national Emerging Midcap Manager of the Year by Emerging Manager Monthly. But of course since it is still majority owned by white males, it is still ineligible to be hired by the state of Illinois (and several other states) for public funds. So far Illinois-based Jesse Jackson has not seen fit to tackle this remarkable case of state-sponsored race and gender discrimination....even on Jackie Robinson Day.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment