Ellis wants PA to reveal investments

Montgomery County has more residents than Alaska. Does that mean ex-Montco commissioners chairman Tom Ellis is as qualified as fellow Republican Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin to run for vice president?
  Ellis laughed at the idea, in his law office at Ballard Spahr high above Center City, as he prepared to run to Tuesday's McCain-Palin rally in Lancaster. "Though, you know, our budget may be bigger than Alaska's," he joked. (Montco collects more property tax than Alaska, but Alaska has a big edge in oil revenues.)
  Ellis is running in November for Pennsylvania Treasurer, against Democratic venture capitalist Rob McCord. Ellis says his experience as a municipal finance lawyer is more relevant to the job than McCord's record of investing state dollars during the Internet bubble and collapse. "Rob tried to sell me some of his funds when I was first county commissioner," he recalled.
  He questions the propriety of state candidates like McCord taking campaign contributions from money managers and other state contractors. "That smells funny," he said. "It doesn't give the citizens confidence." (McCord has promised to excuse himself when his donors come under state review.)
   Like McCord, Ellis says he'd use the job partly as a pulpit to promote better financial practices. While McCord targets consumers, Ellis stressed the needs of state and local agencies -- combining small pension funds, warning boards away from Wall Street salesmen pushing interest-rate swaps they don't understand.
  Ellis defended the City of Philadelphia's 1998 pension bond issue and the high fees collected by his firm and others. "That was a complicated transaction," he said. The pension fund have to borrow again, Mayor Nutter has said. Why didn't the bond solve that problem? Because the city has more retirees than workers -- and the fund hasn't beaten the market: "When you get the money, you need to invest it correctly," he said. 
  Ellis says he's uneasy about Pennsylvania's growing reliance on private equity, hedge fund and real estate investments that aren't subject to public scrutiny. "We shouldn't be giving private institutions taxpayer money without knowing where it's going," he said. "The fees these firms charge are extraordinarily high, but there's no transparency. You don't know where the money is invested, and you don't know if you're giong to make a profit for years and years. That should change."