Adam Crum does not manage $138 billion for Alaskans

Whoever wrote the column in the Wall Street Journal published under the name of Alaska Revenue Commissioner Adam Crum has him puffing himself up for a national audience, claiming that he manages more than $138 billion for Alaskans and state retirees.

“I manage more than $138 billion in fiduciary assets as Alaska’s commissioner of revenue and as a trustee of the state’s retirement management system and the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.,” says Crum, who earned a master’s degree in environmental health sciences in 2015 at Johns Hopkins.

As a legislative candidate in 2016, Crum described himself as a “business owner, truck driver and carpenter.” He also said gold could be a significant revenue source for the state.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy named him health commissioner in 2018 and revenue commissioner in 2022. His only real qualification to be revenue commissioner is his allegiance to Dunleavy.

Crum does not manage more than $138 billion for Alaskans.

As revenue commissioner, he is automatically, under state law, one of the nine trustees of the Alaska Retirement Management Board. And he is automatically one of six trustees of the Alaska Permanent Fund Corp.

Worse than the inflation of his actual role in our state government is the content of the column, which could have been drafted for him by a junior member of the Exxon public relations department.

“To protect its broader network of shareholders, Exxon Mobil in January took the unusual step of suing Arjuna Capital and Follow This, two shareholders that had submitted a proposal that would have undermined the company’s core business operations by pushing for ambitious emissions-reduction targets. Shareholders had already rejected previous similar climate proposals,” says Crum, or whoever wrote the column on his behalf.

Arjuna Capital and Follow This tried to pressure Exxon to do more to cut greenhouse gas emissions with a non-binding resolution.

The groups withdrew their resolution, but Exxon is pushing a lawsuit in Texas against Arjuna Capital even though the company has promised to never do it again.

The leaders of the California Public Employees Retirement System called out Exxon for “an effort that seems more suited to schoolyard bullying than corporate leadership.”

“If Exxon Mobil succeeds in silencing voices and upending the rules of shareholder democracy, what other subjects will the leaders of any company make off limits? Worker safety? Excessive executive compensation?” CalPERS leaders said.

CalPERS and another giant, including Norway’s $1.5 trillion sovereign wealth fund, pushed for a protest vote at the annual Exxon meeting Wednesday against company board members. The protest vote failed and 95 percent of Exxon shareholders backed the reelection of the company board candidates.

Crum says that “Exxon Mobil isn’t the problem; Calpers and other shareholder activists are.” Exxon has the exact same complaints as Crum about activists.

“The intention of creating transparency or putting a spotlight on this litigation wasn’t really to unseat the Exxon board,” said Marcie Frost, chief executive of Calpers, which has $1 billion of Exxon stocks and bonds. “It was more a very clear communication that we say this is an absolute failure in governance, and governance is the responsibility of the entire board.”

Crum claims that CalPERS “push to fire Exxon Mobil’s board members is a clear indication that it has compromised its fiduciary duties and is willing to put California retirees’ life savings at risk to further its activist agenda.”

The guy who doesn’t manage $138 billion isn’t qualified to lecture on the life savings of California retirees and what is at risk.

“By contrast, here in Alaska, we apply prudent investment rules and practices as prescribed by state statutes to maximize investment performance. We don’t use residents’ dollars to advance a fiscally irresponsible activist agenda. Why? Because we recognize that we have a duty to our beneficiaries and that oil and gas development is the bedrock of Alaska’s economy. We’ll continue to work with responsible resource-development companies including Exxon Mobil to ensure a prosperous future for Alaska for generations to come,” says Crum.

There is no awareness on the part of Crum, who specializes in pat answers and cliches, that prudent investment rules and practices should include an understanding of climate change and what it means to the world and the future of the oil and gas industry in Alaska.

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