Republicans Attack CalPERS on Activism

California’s Republican Party criticized the state’s giant CalPERS pension fund Thursday, suggesting that board members be fired for putting a social agenda ahead of profit.

“Like Donald Trump after a long day of watching tycoon wannabes struggle to gain his approval, CalPERS board members are trying to hand out pink slips to the directors at 90% of the companies in which the fund owns shares,” the Republicans said in a statement.

“How unfortunate that the 1.4 million people served by CalPERS -- not to mention taxpayers -- can’t sit across the table from the recalcitrant CalPERS board and shout, ‘You’re fired!’ ”

A spokesman said the California Public Employees’ Retirement System would not comment on the Republican attack.

In recent weeks, CalPERS has stepped up a campaign to promote better corporate governance by casting proxy votes against board members at some of the country’s best-known companies, including Coca-Cola Co., Clear Channel Communications Inc., Boeing Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

CalPERS has vowed to oppose decisions by companies to permit auditors to perform consulting services and approve executive compensation not linked to performance.

The fund has acknowledged that its votes to protest how auditors are managed have been largely symbolic and meant more to draw attention to the issue than to change the composition of boards.