Palin:For Sudan Divestment B4 Against It

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Registered: 09-08-2008
Palin:For Sudan Divestment B4 Against It
2
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 8:23pm

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5948944&page=1

Record Refutes Palin's Sudan Claim

Palin Administration Against Sudan Divestment Before It Was For It, Documents Show

By JUSTIN ROOD
October 3, 2008

SHARE Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin fought to protest atrocities in Sudan by dropping assets tied to the country's brutal regime from the state's multi-billion-dollar investment fund, she claimed during Thursday's vice presidential debate.

Republican vice presidential candidate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin speaks duringa vice presidential debate at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., Thursday, Oct. 2, 2008.
(J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo)
Not quite, according to a review of the public record – and according to the recollections of a legislator and others who pushed a measure to divest Alaskan holdings in Sudan-linked investments.

"The administration killed our bill," said Alaska state representative Les Gara, D-Anchorage. Gara and state Rep. Bob Lynn, R-Anchorage, co-sponsored a resolution early this year to force the Alaska Permanent Fund – a $40 billion investment fund, a portion of whose dividends are distributed annually to state residents – to divest millions of dollars in holdings tied to the Sudanese government.

In Thursday's debate, Palin said she had advocated the state divest from Sudan. "When I and others in the legislature found out that we had some millions of dollars in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars," Palin said.

But a search of news clips and transcripts from the time do not turn up an instance in which Palin mentioned the Sudanese crisis or concerns about Alaska's investments tied to the ruling regime. Moreover, Palin's administration openly opposed the bill, and stated its opposition in a public hearing on the measure.

"The legislation is well-intended, and the desire to make a difference is noble, but mixing moral and political agendas at the expense of our citizens' financial security is not a good combination," testified Brian Andrews, Palin's deputy revenue commissioner, before a hearing on the Gara-Lynn Sudan divestment bill in February. Minutes from the meeting are posted online by the legislature.

Gara says the lack of support from Palin's administration helped kill the measure.

"I walked out of that hearing livid," Gara recalled of the February meeting. Because of the Palin administration's opposition to the bill, "We could not get a vote in that committee," he explained. At no point did Palin come out in support of the effort, Gara said.

The bill's Republican co-sponsor remembers things differently. "I know she was very strongly behind this," said Rep. Lynn. Asked why, if Palin supported the bill, one of her administration's officials would speak against it, Lynn demurred. "We don't all work in lockstep here," he said. "People have different opinions," he added.

Lynn said he and Palin agreed to re-introduce the bill next January, and push to pass it then. He declined to consider whether stronger support from Palin would have helped the bill survive this winter. "I'm not going to do this what if, what if, what if," he said. "These are hypotheticals."

Gara said that after it was clear the bill had stalled, he and others pressed the administration directly on Sudan divestment.

"We were outraged," Gara recounted. "We went to the Commissioner of Revenue and said, 'What the hell are you guys doing? This is genocide. We're going to keep pushing this until we divest."

Two months later, at the end of the legislative session, the administration softened its position. Appearing before a Senate committee which was considering a companion measure to Gara's bill, Palin's Revenue commissioner, Patrick Galvin, stated the administration supported such a measure, though it hoped to amend the bill to allow for investments held indirectly, for example in index funds.

"At the last minute they showed up" and supported the divestment effort, Gara said. But by then the legislative session was almost over, and there wasn't enough time to get it passed.

The Alaska Permanent Fund currently holds $22 million in Sudan-linked investments, according to the non-profit Sudan Divestment Task Force. Divestment advocates say the fund does not need an act of the state legislature to divest itself of those holdings.

The McCain-Palin campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., has been a strong supporter of Sudan divestment efforts, and has urged Americans to liquidate their holdings in companies who do business there. He was criticized for that position when it was revealed in May his wife Cindy held $2 million in investment funds owning shares of Sudan-linked companies. She sold those holdings following a reporter's inquiries.




Edited 10/3/2008 8:24 pm ET by niteowl08

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Registered: 09-08-2008
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 8:43pm

Remember this article earlier in the year? Perhaps we have a theme. Joe Biden fights for the Sudanese, and suddenly McCain and Palin let the words Darfur and Sudan pass their lips. lol.

Anyone else think that McCain is pulling a "Single White Female" moment when Hedy walks down the stairs sporting Allie's signature red hair and haircut? Oh, actually that already happened when McCain suddenly had an "all the above" energy policy almost identical to Baracks, and when McCain adopted the "change is coming" mantra. Scary.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4861297&page=1

McCain Urges Sudan Divestment -- After Wife Dumps Her Holdings

Cindy McCain Reportedly Pulled $2 Million From Two Investment Funds Owning Shares of Companies Doing Business in Sudan

BY JUSTIN ROOD
May 15, 2008—

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain urged Americans to sell off any investments they have in Sudan -- after media reports revealed his wife had millions invested in funds owning stock in firms which reportedly did business with Sudan.

Cindy McCain has sold off those holdings, McCain confirmed Wednesday, and said he and his wife had not known the funds had ties to the Sudanese regime, which has armed and supported militias considered responsible for killing, raping and torturing hundreds of thousands of civilians in the country's Darfur region.

"I would hope" Americans would sell stocks and other investments tied to Sudan, McCain told reporters at a press availability Wednesday in Columbus, Ohio, "because I think that government obviously is one that has done virtually nothing to prevent the genocide that is taking place in Darfur."

McCain has previously made strong statements opposing investment in Sudan, which has significant petroleum reserves. "The politics of oil impede the global progress of our values," he declared of the Sudanese crisis in a speech last year.

Cindy McCain reportedly pulled $2 million from two investment funds owning shares of Indian and Chinese petroleum companies doing business in Sudan. The move came after a reporter queried the campaign about the holdings Wednesday.

"We found out about it, they found out about it and fixed the problem," McCain said from the campaign trail.

What little is known of Cindy McCain's fortune -- estimated to be in the $100 million range -- comes from her husband's Senate disclosures. While other potential "first spouses" have allowed the details of their tax filings revealed, Cindy has declined to release her IRS returns, citing her children's privacy.

Recently, Cindy McCain cancelled a planned memoir to have been published by Viking, which had been announced just last month. A spokeswoman for Mrs. McCain said her boss decided to cancel the project due to the demands of the campaign trail and the "various humanitarian trips she has planned this summer."

ABC News' Brett Hovell contributed to this story.

Click Here for the Investigative Homepage.

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Registered: 09-08-2008
Sat, 10-04-2008 - 12:34am