Casten wants conservative group de-funded

From staff reports

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-6th) last week called on the CEOs of Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase to commit to de-fund the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF), a group Casten claimed is a “right-wing climate denialism group that actively promotes legislation requiring state and city treasurers to blacklist companies that evaluate climate risk in their investment decisions.”

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten

“Can either of you commit, while you are here, that you will not continue to fund an organization that is spreading disinformation that is blocking the capital sector from freely allocating capital?” Casten asked in a Finance Committee meeting.

Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., reportedly responded, “If that were true, I probably would cancel it.”

Casten said a number of prominent financial institutions, including JPMorganChase and Wells Fargo, are among the sponsors of the State Financial Officers Foundation (SFOF) and, until recently, were listed on SFOF’s website as such.

Last month, the New York Times reported that SFOF has been at the forefront of a coordinated attack on climate financial action by Republican state treasurer.

Six states have passed model legislation called the “Energy Discrimination Elimination Act,” which seeks to punish financial institutions that are deemed to be boycotting fossil fuels. These laws led West Virginia’s treasurer to falsely claim, Casten said, that certain large financial institutions are boycotting fossil fuels, and cancel contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars with Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, JPMorganChase, and Goldman Sachs.

Nationally, these laws are having their intended “chilling effect” on financial institutions, have turned out to be a nightmare of implementation, and are proving costly for the public and municipalities, Casten claimed.

On its website, SFOF describes itself as “founded on the belief that state financial officers nationally are playing a much greater role in promoting fiscally responsible public policy. SFOF continues to organize a select group of leaders from the public and private sectors to help state financial officers develop and implement free-market, pro-growth policies.”