Patrick to push Sudan sanction

The Patrick administration forcefully urged lawmakers yesterday to withdraw more than $100 million in state pension fund investments from foreign companies doing business in genocide-ravaged Sudan, setting the stage for the state's first major attempt to exert financial pressure on a foreign government since it pulled funds from apartheid-era South Africa more than two decades ago.

The humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan, which involves hundreds of thousands of deaths, is of considerable interest to Governor Deval Patrick: After graduating from Harvard University in 1978, he spent a year working on a United Nations youth training project in Darfur, which President Bush says is the site of a genocidal campaign against Sudanese villagers by government-backed janjaweed militia.

In addition, the Massachusetts congressional delegation released a letter yesterday urging state lawmakers to pass the Sudan divestment bill.

On Beacon Hill yesterday, a procession of activists, students, academics, and Hollywood actress Mia Farrow urged lawmakers to pass the bill. Most members of the Joint Committee on Public Service, which held the hearing, appeared inclined toward passage .

"We have to make that gesture," said state Representative William Pignatelli, a Lenox Democrat on the committee. "I would have no problem voting today."

While Sudan has drawn worldwide condemnation, numerous foreign firms, many of them Chinese and European oil companies, have aggressively pursued business there. The bill would pull about $103 million from these firms, according to state estimates.

Farrow, an actress who has served as an UNICEF goodwill ambassador, showed lawmakers a slideshow of photos she took on four recent trips to the region and told them of her talks with displaced villagers.

"Even above the plea for water, even above the plea for food, was the plea for protection," she said.

But it was the Patrick administration's stance, conveyed by Lieutenant Governor Timothy P. Murray, that carried the most political significance.

"We have an obligation to act on our values," said Murray, pointing out that Massachusetts was the first state to divest from South Africa, in 1982, to protest apartheid.

House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi and Senate President Therese Murray met with Farrow and some activists yesterday. DiMasi said they "made a very strong case" for the bill, though he would not say whether he would support it, according to his spokeswoman. Therese Murray said she supports the bill.

Michael Travaglini, executive director of the state pension board, said he stands ready to divest if the bill passes.

But he said he was worried that the bill could set a precedent that would ultimately harm the financial performance of the $47 billion fund, which finances retirement checks for state workers and teachers.

"Whenever you limit our ability to invest . . . you potentially limit our investment returns," he said.

The bill will probably come up for a committee vote within the next two weeks, lawmakers said. Then it would have to clear each chamber's Ways and Means Committee, due to its potential financial impact, before the full House and Senate could vote on it.

A Globe analysis conducted last summer found that the state pension fund, called the Pension Reserves Investment Trust, had invested more than $300 million in 23 foreign companies active in Sudan.

But the bill under consideration would not target all these investments. A narrower version of previous Sudan divestment bills, it requires the pension fund to withdraw only from companies that substantially benefit the Sudanese government. Some of the companies identified by the Globe conduct business that helps both the government and civilians and would be exempt. The pension fund could also argue for inclusion of some banned companies if there were proof the portfolio's performance had been hurt.

While concerned about setting a precedent, Travaglini suggested that the Sudan divestment would have little impact on the massive pension fund. "It is a very small component of what we do presently," he said.

Seven other states -- including Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont -- have divested from Sudan. Twelve states have similar bills under consideration, and more than 50 colleges and universities have divested, says the nonprofit Sudan Divestment Task Force.

The state pension fund cannot invest in any tobacco companies. In the past, the Legislature has directed the fund to divest from South Africa and Northern Ireland, though both bans have been lifted.

A measure banning investment or purchase of goods or services from firms doing business with Burma was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 2000 on grounds it had been preempted by a federal sanctions law and encroached on the federal powers to conduct foreign affairs.

Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com.