New Jersey governor orders pension funds divested from Sudan
TRENTON, N.J., July 28, 2005 (AP) — Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey signed legislation Thursday directing state pension funds to be divested from companies doing business with war-ravaged Sudan.
The law, which takes effect Aug. 1, makes New Jersey the first state in the nation to divest its pension funds from Sudan, the governor’s office said. A similar law passed in Illinois takes effect in January.
“We are sending a clear message — our money will not be blood money,” Codey said Thursday.
The legislation is intended to protest ongoing human rights abuses in the North African nation, particularly in the Darfur region.
Rebels took up arms in Darfur in February 2003, complaining of discrimination and oppression by Sudan’s Arab-dominated government. The government is accused of unleashing Arab tribal militias against civilians in a campaign of murder, rape and arson. At least 180,000 people have died — many from hunger and disease.
About $1 billion in state pension funds will be redirected under the law.
The legislation marks only the second time the Legislature has restricted where state-administered pension funds are invested. In the late 1980s, the state divested itself from companies doing business in South Africa as a protest against the government’s racial policies.
Sen. Jon Corzine, the Democratic nominee for governor who has long spoken out against the atrocities in Darfur, said Thursday that the law “brings us one step closer to ending the nightmare many are living in Darfur by denying financial support to those who spread terror, death and destruction.”
But critics within the administration say the policy is flawed.
Treasurer John McCormac told the Legislature during testimony on the bill in May that the state would take a financial hit by dumping all stocks with a connection to the Sudan.
McCormac said then that social policy shouldn’t mix with fiscal policy and the state would be better served by keeping its stock and asserting itself as a major shareholder.
Companies doing humanitarian work in the Sudan are exempt from the divestiture order.