COLUMBUS, Ohio (The Associated Press) ââ¬â The state can make a splash in international politics, just as it does in presidential politics, if it agrees to divest itself of dealings with companies that do business with Iran, a former CIA director said Thursday.
James Woolsey, who ran the agency from 1993-95 under former President Clinton, said he testified on behalf of a bill that would strip Ohio’s public investments from international companies doing business with Iran because of the state’s profile in national elections.
Ohio handed President Bush the electoral votes he needed in 2004 to claim re-election. No Republican and only two Democrats since 1900 have won the White House without Ohio.
"It’s important because it’s populous and a swing state in presidential elections," Woolsey said after testifying before the House Financial Institutions, Real Estate & Securities Committee. "It’s something a lot of states will look at."
The bill sponsored by Reps. Josh Mandel of suburban Cleveland and Shannon Jones of Springboro would require the state’s five public pension funds to dump investments in companies that do business with Iran. The bill could emerge from the committee as early as next week.
Mandel and Jones, both Republicans, said the amount of investments in international companies doing business in Iran could total billions of dollars. They hope to pinpoint the amount during hearings on the bill.
A California assemblyman has introduced a similar bill. In Missouri, the state treasurer and lawmakers of both parties are pushing a resolution that would encourage that state’s pension funds to cut ties with companies doing business in Iran.
Iran’s dialogue with the United States and its dabbling in nuclear issues are not the reasons companies should be boycotted, Woolsey said. Genocide and terror are, he said.
"Whatever you decide to do by way of talking with the United States or not talking with the United States, this genocidal talk and terrorist support is just unacceptable," Woolsey said.
