States Weigh Pros and Cons of Sudan Divestment, April 2007
Some time in the near future, COLORADO Gov. Bill Ritter (D) is expected to sign House Bill 1184, which requires the state’s public pension fund to rid itself of an estimated $141 million in holdings in companies that do business with the civil war-torn African nation of Sudan. IOWA Gov. Chet Culver (D) is also expected to sign SB 361, which would require the Hawkeye State to sell off its own Sudan-related holdings. In doing so, Ritter and Culver will make their states the eighth and ninth to undertake such a divestment, with several more primed to follow suit. But while supporters hail these measures as an appropriate moral stand against the Sudanese government and the genocide it is accused of carrying out in Darfur, others contend they are unconstitutional and could potentially harm pensioners in those states. [click title to continue reading]