Rusthoven wrong on pension claim

Peter Rusthoven’s [Aug. 22] column about raising the federal debt limit included a major error worthy of a retraction and an apology. He is a long-time financial supporter of Sen. Richard Lugar and wrote with the intention of promoting his candidacy. Rusthoven should form his opinions around facts, not blatant fallacy.

Rusthoven claims that pension funds I oversee as state treasurer “lost $1.2 billion [11.2 percent] since June.” That allegation is ridiculous, false and reckless. The pension fund he is referring to is not managed by the state treasurer.

Indeed, the sole pension fund I oversee as state treasurer, the Indiana State Police Pension Trust, had total assets of $388 million at the end of the last quarter, and therefore it could not have lost $1.2 billion as Rusthoven claims. This elementary and obvious fact might have been made clear to him with no more effort than a visit to the state treasurer’s website.

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Richard Mourdock
Indiana State Treasurer

Editor’s note: Rusthoven based the comment on a news article erroneously saying Mourdock managed all state pension funds. Mourdock manages the police pension trust, and by law, he or his designee is a trustee of the public employee retirement system.