Veep Debate: Palin’s bogus Sudan claim
I’ve made Gov. Sarah Palin’s claims about Sudan divestment the subject of my small contribution to the mass fact-checking effort. Here’s her statement from the debate:
“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.
UPDATED: Own the sidewalk has even more details (including links to committee testimony) on why it died in the Alaska legislature. Quick answer, Palin’s folk argued against it in the House.
UPDATED: ABC News, the Washington Post and Newsday have also debunked Palin’s claims.
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October 3rd, 2008 at 12:59 am
Excellent work! Thanks for posting this.
October 3rd, 2008 at 1:14 am
Well, I wish I could say this surprised me… it doesn’t.
October 3rd, 2008 at 8:08 am
Thanks for the link, and thanks for looking into this. The people who actually worked on HB 287 were pretty upset to hear the governor take credit for their legislation last night, considering members of her administration were the reason it didn’t get out of committee last winter. Then again, taking credit for other people’s good work is something at which Palin excels. (Just ask the legislators who worked to pass “her” famous ethics reforms.)
October 3rd, 2008 at 6:40 pm
I was surfing over CNN tonight and was pleasantly surprised to see this story get so much traction outside the blogosphere. Palin’s been caught in a demonstrable fib, and it’s compounding all the other problems she had last night. Of course, the Rove playbook has Republican spinmeisters denying and minimizing right now, but the damage is being done. Each hour brings more evidence that the VP debate was a disaster for the GOP.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Thanks y’all for commenting. I hope that they bring the story up again next week. I mean, there was a lot more at stake in this fib-flop than the bridge to nowhere.
October 3rd, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Great information. I will link to this page from my own blog. This is Palin’s worst lie of all.
October 3rd, 2008 at 9:56 pm
You lie and you admit it! You admit that she supported divestment and whine that it took her “18 months”. She supported divestment and that was the time it took for the Alaska legislature to get a bill on the subject.
Governor Palin didn’t lie but you did!
Do we look that stupid?
October 4th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Nothing to admit, dawg. Palin says when she “found out” about it, she “called for divestment.”
Not true. 16 months went by after she was alerted….I give her credit for supporting it in April 08, but the record actually only gives her credit for “signaling support.” In fact, she never said a word: her department of revenue commissioner endorsed it.
When she was told about it, she didn’t call for anything.