inst for Pension Fund Integrity IPFI
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month,Oil Change Internationaland DeSmog reported on the formation of a new organization, The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI), which had published its first “white paper” on “getting politics out of pensions.”
The white paper pushed back against the growing global movement to end investment in fossil fuels. As we reported, the headline on the Institutional Investor website summed up the main finding of the report: “New Pensions Group Says Forget About Climate Change.”
The images in the report (like the image above) are symbolically deliberate: They are of police, construction workers in hard hats, firemen, pensioners and teachers. To the reader these are meant to represent hard working folk whose pensions are threatened. But is the report speaking on their behalf?
As we reported, the author of the report and founder of the IPFI is Christopher Burnham, a former Treasurer of the State of Connecticut, and former United Nations Undersecretary. “Whois” records reveal that Burnham set up the IPFI’s website on March 22. Two days later records show that Burnham was still showing as the registrant name.
However by April 9, the contact for the website had been changed to Fred Wollenberg from the Bergman Group, which calls itself a communications company which specializes in new media, publishing, and direct marketing.
Screen shot of Whois listing of IPFI website showing Bergman Group affiliation.
Why this is interesting is that according to his b:{iog on Bergman’s website:(style="background-color:#ffff66;"):}:, Wollenberg has developed “speciality marketing” for Exxon as well as the DCI Group, which was outed last year by Bloomberg for being behind another uncannily similar anti-disinvestment initiative called “Protect Our Pensions.” As Bloomberg reported, Protect Our Pensions “isn’t what it appears to be […] much of the writing is actually done by public affairs firms operating in the shadows.”
Well, it seems that the Bergman Group also wants to hide in the shadows.
Our blog was published on April 25. It was entitled: “Is Fossil Fuel Industry Secretly Behind a new Campaign against Fossil Fuel Investment?” At the time of the blog, the “Whois” record showed that both the Registrant and Administration Contact for the website was Fred Wollenberg at 7204 Glen Forest Drive, Richmond, Virginia.
However, at 20:34:59 that evening the “Whois” record for the website changed. Now both the Registrant and Administration Contacts are “Domains by Proxy” based in Arizona.
Screen shot of Whois listing for IPFI on April 30, 2018.
The whole point of using a Proxy domain company is to hide who set up the website. People do it all the time. It’s the online equivalent of trying to cover your tracks.
So the obvious question is why was the IPFI so keen to hide the involvement of the Bergman Group or why was Fred Wollenberg from the Bergman Group so keen to try and wipe away his electronic fingerprints from the website?
The obvious conclusion is that they don’t want people to know the link. This may be because Bergman’s clients include Exxon and the DCI Group, it may not. What we do know is that by trying to hide the connection, both Bergman and the IPFI just made another mistake in setting up what is increasingly looking likely as a fossil fuel front group.
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Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI
https://www.desmogblog.com/2018/04/25/fossil-fuel-industry-secretly-behind-new-campaign-against-fossil-fuel-divestment
Last week a newly formed organization, The Institute for Pension Fund Integrity (IPFI), published its first “white paper” on the topical issue of “getting politics out of pensions”.
Reviewing the report, the headline on the Institutional Investor website summed up the main finding: “New Pensions Group Says Forget About Climate Change”.
“Pension funds should focus solely on getting the best investment returns and ignore issues such as climate change and other political issues”, continued the Institutional Investor.
Which really is a polite way of saying “forget about your and your kid’s future, make as much money as possible now.”
So what does the report actually say? The IPFI report warns that “politically driven divestment is a growing movement across the country”. It continues: “Much of the push is for public pensions to divest from industries with negative externalities, including being damaging to the environment; being unhealthy; and otherwise being perceived as a social ‘bad’. While this is not a novel concept, current movements focus on groups pushing for divestment from fossil fuel companies given their perceived negative impact on the climate and environment.”
“Other examples” it adds, “include divesting from tobacco companies, soda companies, gun manufacturers, and the military and nuclear industrial complex.” The report’s final conclusion is clear: “get politics out of public pension management.”
So who is behind the report warning against the burgeoning fossil fuel disinvestment movement?
The author of the report and founder of the IPFI isChristopher Burnham, a former Treasurer of the State of Connecticut, and former United Nations Undersecretary. He is also a former “energy investment banker” and chairman of an advisory / PR company, CambridgeGlobal Advisors. He has also, most recently, served as a member of Donald Trump’s Presidential Transition Team at the Department of State.
Burnham has previously written for Cambridge Global Advisors on the subject of pensions saying that “a new era of activists, without any regard to fiduciary responsibility, is injecting politics into pension systems, yet again, by trying to make states, counties and municipalities across the country divest of shares in energy companies. Why would we seek to undermine the integrity of a secure retirement for our teachers and government employees?”
But let’s dig a little deeper. The IPFA’s address is exactly the same as the East Port Analystics, on which board Burnham sits. However, its phone number is the same as Cambridge Global Advisors, although Cambridge does not give out its full address on its website, so it's probably all the same office.
Maybe a greater clue is who is behind the Institute’s website. The IPFI website was set up last month by Burnham himself on March 22. Two days later records show that Burnham was showing as the registrant name. However by April 9, the contact for the website had been changed to Fred Wollenberg from the Bergman Group, which is an advertising company.
According to his biog on Bergman’s website, it says Wollenberg “joined the Bergman Group, where he has developed speciality marketing for ExxonMobil, Sandler Training, CapTech, American Express, Martha Jefferson Hospital, DCI Group, Beaumont Hospitals of Detroit, Wells Fargo, VCU Health System, the National Audubon Society, American Enterprise Institute, the George W. Bush Foundationand Capital One.”
Now this maybe a total coincidence, but Wollenberg just happens to have developed “speciality marketing” for Exxon as well as the DCI Group, the PR firm linked to the Republican Party, which has a long history of being involved in anti-climate change work and also which has been accused of being behind another anti-fossil fuel disinvestment campaign.
As *Bloomberg* reported last year, there is another anti-divestment campaign which is called “Protect Our Pensions isn’t what it appears to be … much of the writing is actually done by public affairs firms operating in the shadows”.
It continued: “But there are clues pointing to the involvement of DCI Group LLC, a Washington public affairs firm known for its work with the energy industry and for building grass-roots coalitions that sometimes obscure their funders.”
Bloomberg noted that the group’s website, “www.helpprotectourpensions.org, is linked to the same internet protocol address as DCI’s corporate website, according to reverse IP lookup tools. Shared IP addresses can sometimes be a coincidence, but of the 11 other sites connected to that address, at least eight are for coalitions or projects related to DCI clients.”
DCI neither confirmed or denied to Bloomberg that they worked on the Protect our Pensions campaign, and they will probably say the same here about another uncannily similar initiative.
by Andy Rowell, crossposted from Oil Change International