CHANGE: Democrat Governor In Heavily GOP State Signs Bill To Crack Down On Woke Investments.

Critics of the ESG movement largely align with conservatives and assert that the philosophy intermixes political and social causes in a manner that compromises or distracts from profitability. Beshear signed a bill last week to require fiduciaries of the state’s retirement funds to only consider factors which have a “direct and material connection to the financial risk or financial return of an investment” rather than any “environmental, social, political, or ideological interest” without a connection to the financial realities of an asset.

Beshear, who won an upset victory four years ago in the predominantly Republican state, is presently campaigning for a second term; the general election will occur at the end of the year.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), both of whom will be on their respective ballots in primarily Republican states next year, recently voted against fellow Democrats to pass a resolution scrapping a White House rule that allows retirement fiduciaries to invest in accordance with the ESG movement. President Joe Biden vetoed the resolution last week.

American investors are broadly skeptical of the ESG movement and desire that their funds are allocated in a politically neutral manner.

And they’re right.