Investing column contained errors
The purpose of this letter is to point out a serious error in the [April 20] Investing column, “Complex bond schemes haunt Indy, other cities.” The article erroneously states that the Indiana Bond Bank issued bonds on behalf of Indianapolis Water Co. in 2005.
Please note that the 2005 Indianapolis Water Co. bonds were not issued by the Indiana Bond Bank. The Indiana Bond Bank had no involvement with IWC transactions at the time. It has had no relationship with IWC.
The points made in [Ken] Skarbeck’s article regarding the complex financial actions leading to failures in the market are largely valid. But by wrongly implicating the Indiana Bond Bank he has made an error not dissimilar than he alleged in the article: “It is clear now that even the creators of these black-box ‘structured products’ did not understand them.”
It is equally clear he did not understand the process or source of origination of the bonds in question. Fact-checking is a meticulous part of the public finance process and would have been well-applied here.
Richard E. Mourdock
Treasurer of state
Chairman, Indiana Bond Bank
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