Oregon Invests $ 500 Million Pension & School Funds in Leveraged Buyout Giant

From today's paper: "Oregon's pension and common school funds are entrusting another big chunk of capital to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., the leveraged buyout giant that has been a longtime, successful and sometimes controversial manager of Oregon pension money since the state's first such KKR investment in 1981."

Source: Oregon Live 

KKR is also the firm that has repeatedly taken companies private and laid off thousands of workers. Read more  about KKR.

I'd like to know if Oregon citizens believe this is a safe and prudent way to invest their public money.