Are Vermont's Pensions Funding Terror?

By Frank Mazur 

The war on terror has evolved over 25 years. It started when our embassy was attacked in Iran and American hostages were held for 444 days, and has since been a constant, growing force bent on destroying our way of life. It is now the most crucial issue we face as a nation.

This is also a conflict unlike any other the world has ever seen. As President Bush pointed out, this war will be fought in many places and in many ways. One important battlefield is financial.

To wage terrorism costs money.  Al Qaeda (and other groups) must buy weapons, missiles, computers, nuclear components… All of these things cost money, and the source of that money comes in great part from the sale crude oil and from the financial markets.

The U.S, therefore, must is work on becoming more energy independent. This will take time and resources. But there is something we can do right now -- cease funding companies through public investment that do business with avowed terrorists.

The Center for Security Policy released a study in 2004 about "Terrorism Investments of the 50 States".  It revealed that Twenty percent of Vermont's public pension portfolio is in companies with ties to terrorists sponsoring states.  According to this report the Vermont State Retirement System has invested $235 million in companies that have business operations in or with countries that sponsor terrorism.  (You can view the report at www.DivestTerror.org.) This data has been challenged, but the premise still stands.

Vermont Treasurer Jeb Spaulding proposed to the state pension committee that oversees the investment of state's pension funds, a policy in early May forbidding any investment in countries "engaged or complicit in the sponsorship of terrorism…" However, the policy "does not require an index or commingled investment vehicle" to be divested, and worse, he has not received much support from the committee for his proposal.

This ambivalence is outrageous considering that several States have disallowed investments in "sin" industries such as tobacco, and Treasurer Spalding himself recently made a point of investing pension money in Green Mountain Power because of its commitment to green energy and efficiency programs. Yet, Osama bin Laden gets a disinterested shrug!

If our state's public dollars are going to companies whose business operations help underwrite countries that provide with impunity, technology and safe harbor to those who are trying to kill us, IT MUST STOP -- if only for the simple reason that companies doing business with these governments send an unmistakable message that their support for terrorism is not a concern as long as there are profits to be made.

The pension committee needs a reality check:  We are in a long term war with terrorists, and Vermonters' state pension money shouldn't be part of the problem, directly or indirectly. Vermonters' have plenty of reasons to divest terror; it can help win – and end -- the war.  Is there any reason why the pension board shouldn't act accordingly?

Frank Mazur is the Advisory Council Chairman for FreedomWorks-Vermont, and is a former Representative from South Burlington. For more articles by this author, visit www.FrankMazur.com

Related: www.DivestTerror.org.