(USNewsMag.com) – The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) has come under fire from Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach for allegedly using taxpayer money to fund ESG investments.
ESG stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance. It is a new metric by which organizations and financial institutions rate their investments and business relationships.
While the NAAG is supposed to be a “nonpartisan national forum for America’s state and territory attorneys general and their staff,” according to the organization’s website, multiple Conservative-leaning AGs have left the organization after accusing it of having a “liberal bent.” Since 2001, the Attorneys General representing Alabama, Texas, Missouri, Arizona, and Montana have ceased involvement with the group.
Kris Kobach of Kansas has not gone so far as to disassociate from the organization entirely the way some of his colleagues have, but according to a letter obtained by Breitbart, the new member of the executive committee of the NAAG appears to be requesting an audit on the organization’s involvement in ESG investments.
Kobach described ESG as a practice that destroys value for shareholders for the sake of pursuing “faddish ideological aims.” Among the issues, Kobach is investigating is the NAAG’s decision to use organizations like BlackRock to manage their funds. BlackRock came under public scrutiny after the drastic increase in house values in 2021 when it was revealed that the organization had been buying up American properties and outbidding average Americans in a move that drove prices higher and made homes unaffordable for many middle-class families.
The uniquely Left-leaning ideologies supported by ESG ratings use pressure from large organizations who are on board with the policies, like BlackRock, to force social and economic change. By rating companies on the impact of their products and investments, sectors such as gun manufacturing could be isolated and stripped of necessary capital.
A decision in 2022 by Mastercard, Visa, and American Express to use a merchant code for transactions processed through gun sellers led to warnings that such designations could be a stepping stone to the refusal to process those transactions should the companies decide their Social score was being impacted by doing business with those merchants.
Copyright 2023, USNewsMag.com
