By Matt Canham (Excerpted)

Missouri Treasurer Sarah Steelman is leading a national “terror-free investing” effort that she hopes will shame major companies from doing business with the countries on the State Department’s list.

So far, she isn’t getting much support, including here in Utah, a state that is one of the most ardent supporters of President Bush’s “war on terror.”

“We are not in business to conduct foreign policy,” said Bob Newman, executive director of Utah Retirement Systems, which manages the state’s $23 billion pension program.

The retirement systems board has a general policy that it will not make any financial decision to further a “social” cause.

Steelman believes that is simply shirking responsibility.

“If we are going to have economic sanctions, let’s really cut the purse strings,” she said. Steelman has sent a letter to all state treasurers asking them to follow her lead.

She oversees a $26 million cultural trust fund that she has made terror-free and she is working on Missouri’s pension board one investment at a time.

“I believe every dollar makes a difference in this fight,” she said. Read more…

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