wfn.org | Board Challenges Tobacco Promotion

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS" by SUSAN PEEK on Aug. 11, 1991 at 13:58 Eastern,
about FULL TEXT RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (3391 notes).

Note 3391 by UMNS on Jan. 23, 1997 at 16:22 Eastern (4243 characters).

SEARCH: tobacco, advertising, media, United Methodist,
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Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
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CONTACT:  Ralph E. Baker                          37(10-71B){3391}
          Nashville, Tenn.  (615) 742-5470           Jan. 23, 1997

Pension board takes first steps
to challenge tobacco advertising

     SARASOTA, Fla. (UMNS) -- The United Methodist Board of
Pension and Health Benefits, with more than $8 billion in assets,
is considering use of its shareholder influence to help end
tobacco advertising. 
     At an open hearing here Jan. 21 immediately before the
regular meeting of the board's governing body, the Rev. Frank H.
Anderson, asked the board to challenge media companies in which it
owns stock to refuse advertising of tobacco products.
     He pointed out that the denomination has a long tradition of
opposition to the use and sale of tobacco, and that the 1996
General Conference passed a resolution calling on the board to
exercise its shareholder option calling for an end to tobacco
advertising in publications.
     Anderson, a retired clergy member of the denomination's
Western New York Annual Conference, represented the Methodist
Federation for Social Action (MFSA) at the session, which is open
for church members to express an opinion about the board's work.
     The request was referred to the board's Corporate and
Fiduciary Responsibility Committee, who -- as a first step --
asked the agency's legal staff to select six companies and request
their statements of policies on tobacco advertising.
     The board also supported the committee's recommendation to
have a representative at the coming stockholder's meeting of the
Texaco Corporation to speak in favor of adding racial-ethnic
minority members to its board of directors.  The company has been
under pressure to end racial discrimination in its management
after racist comments by one of its vice presidents were made
public.
     A second letter is to be sent to the Briggs and Stratton
Corporation asking the status of that company's lawsuit against
the "National Catholic Reporter."  The "Reporter" had criticized
the corporation's labor practices.  According to committee
members, corporate officials have not responded adequately to a
first letter from the board.
     Amy Domini of Boston, president of the Domini Social
Investment Fund, in an after-dinner address, applauded the board's
investments in low-income housing.  "You have done the most
remarkable job in this arena of anybody, offering housing to the
poorest people. ... Ethical investing is the integration of deeply
held ethical convictions into the investment process," she said.
     "Social investing is beginning to show signs of making a
difference," said Domini. The "assumption of corporate
responsibility is becoming more important."
     In other business:
     * board members heard that a mailing will be sent to pension
participants next February explaining the Personal Investment Plan
to begin operation Jan. 1, 1998;
     * voted to use money from reserves to pay the difference in
dental coverage premium costs to conferences after an unexpected
raise in premiums from Met Life, the program's carrier;
     * made it mandatory for all members of an annual conference
participating in the dental plan to take part;
     * heard that the Benefits 2000 Task Force has set objectives
including determining benefits needs for the next 20 years and how
benefits best can be provided.
     Gale Whitson-Schmidt, treasurer, reported that at the end of
1996, the board managed assets of $8.1 billion.  There is now $850
million in reserves, she said. 
     According to Whitson-Schmidt the total distribution to
pension accounts in the board's Diversified Fund for 1996 was
13.42 percent.
     "This meeting has been helpful in providing direction and
making decisions," said Barbara Boigegrain, the board's top staff
executive.  Bishop Bruce P. Blake, Oklahoma Area, is board
president and Bishop William W. Morris, Alabama-West Florida Area,
is vice president.
                              #  #  #

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