Ysursa: ‘None of us wear the robe’

Quizzed by Land Board members about his concerns over Supt. Luna’s proposal, endowment fund manager Larry Johnson said, “I don’t think that this would be catastrophic.” He said, “I think if I can be guaranteed that this is a one-time and one-time only process, then the impact would not be huge.” But asked by Attorney General Lawrence Wasden if he thought the board would be “abrogating” its “fiduciary duty” if it went along, Johnson said, “I fear it would.” Gov. Butch Otter then asked Wasden if he thought so - he nodded. At that, Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, who also is an attorney, suggested the board might also have abrogated that duty by spending more of its earnings on current beneficiaries than future ones in recent years. “None of us wear the robe,” Ysursa said, noting that only a court could determine that. Johnson said, “The investment board doesn’t claim to have all wisdom on this matter.”