Lawmakers had Iran investment ties

Lawmakers had Iran investment ties

	Published : Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:02 By : Agencies Print this Story

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Both sponsors of a bill that would pull Ohio's largest investment funds out of Iran hold stock in General Electric Co., whose business ties to the sanctioned nation have came under scrutiny.

State Reps. Shannon Jones and Josh Mandel, both freshman Republicans, reported owning GE stock on state financial disclosure forms last year -- and both said Monday they still hold the shares. Neither said how much they own and both said they didn't know about GE's operations in Iran until after they bought the stock.

'What you are calling about is the crux of the issue,' said Mandel, an Iraq Marine veteran from Lyndhurst. 'Until large institutional investors take leadership in this arena, there are not going to be very many opportunities for Joe Citizen to invest terror-free.'

Mandel said GE already had announced that it would no longer seek business in Iran when the Ohio divestment proposal was introduced April 12. Jones, of Springboro, said she never considered selling her GE stock because she believed U.S. companies already were banned under federal law from investing in Iran.

'For me and my husband, who spent a lot of time on this trying to understand it, this (terror-free investing) is certainly going to be our own personal filter as we make future investment decisions for my family,' Jones said. 'I, frankly, was totally unaware of this until I started researching it a few months ago. So therein lies most of the frustration.'

Thirteen countries or regions have been penalized after being accused by the U.S. of supporting terrorism, human rights violations and other misbehavior. States have increasingly followed suit with state-level investment bans.

Earlier this month, Ohio Treasurer Richard Cordray announced he planned to bring the state portfolios he oversees in line with federal guidelines against terrorism-connected investment. The proposal backed by Mandel and Jones further bans the state's five pension funds, its injured worker insurance fund and its state Controlling Board from dealings with Iran-tied foreign businesses.

'We structured the screen the way we did because it wasn't our intention to penalize U.S. companies set into long-term contracts,' Jones said. 'But certainly on a personal level, any company that would choose to continue to do business in Iran is not a company I'm interested in investing in.'