Palin’s bogus Sudan claim

Swing State of Mind :: NM Pop Politics | Veep Debate: Palin’s bogus Sudan claim

“What I’ve done in my position to help, as the governor of a state that’s pretty rich in natural resources, we have a $40 billion investment fund, a savings fund called the Alaska Permanent Fund. When I and others in the legislature found out we had some millions of dollars in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars to make sure we weren’t doing anything that would be seen as condoning the activities there in Darfur. That legislation hasn’t passed yet but it needs to because all of us, as individuals, and as humanitarians and as elected officials should do all we can to end those atrocities in that region of the world.”

Alaska has $22 million invested in companies tied to Sudan. Governor-Elect Palin was sent a letter by Congress (including Sens. Dick Durbin and Sam Brownback) urging her to support divestment on Nov. 15, 2006–only a few days after her victory in the general election.

Palin did not publicly support divestment until April 3, 2008. It took her more than 16 months. When the Santa Fe Reporter alerted Gov. Bill Richardson’s office of New Mexico’s money tied to Sudan, it took him less than two weeks to order the divestment of a total of $45 million. A few weeks later the job was done and the money moved.

Democratic Gov. Janet Napolitano signed a divestment bill for Sen. John McCain’s home state of Arizona on March 10, 2008. Sen. Barack Obama’s state, Illinois divested in June 2005 - more than a year before Alaska “found out” about it’s investments...