Lawmaker: End Business With Sudan

By Special to the Sun | February 1, 2007

A Queens lawmaker today will urge local and state governments to divest their pension funds of corporations that do business with the Sudan.

Accusing Sudan of allowing a genocide to occur on its soil, Council Member Eric Gioia is sponsoring a City Council resolution calling on the funds' trustees to take their money elsewhere.

For its part, the city's funds have almost $525 million worth of investments in companies with holdings in the African nation, Mr. Gioia's office said.

Mr. Gioia's move is the latest by lawmakers and activists nationwide to pursue political goals by manipulating the power of municipal public pension funds.

Last year, New York City's comptroller, William Thompson Jr., said that his office pressured Kentucky Fried Chicken to remove an offensive mural in Ireland.