New Mexico state Sen. Jacob Candelaria (DTS-Albuquerque) is asking his state to divest an estimated $16 million tied to Russia.
Candelaria is among those calling for U.S. states and companies to divest their investments in Russia after its invasion of Ukraine.
“We should not be funding war crimes. Or enriching Putin,” he said on Twitter, according to KRQE. His tweet was released the same day President Joe Biden announced major economic sanctions on Russia.
The New Mexico State Investment Council (SIC) is in charge of managing more than $34 billion of state funds. They invest public dollars “on behalf of the people of New Mexico,” according to their website. Candelaria is calling for a review of their holdings, KRQE said.
"Given the amount of money we have as our public money in the markets, we can speak with a very, very loud voice,” Candelaria said to KRQE. “It’s at moments like these in history that there are two types of responses. You can sit by and do nothing, or you can stand up and fight.”
Candelaria said Russia is trying to isolate itself and create its own “independent economic sphere” that would be separate from the West. “That will take time,” he said to KRQE. “And they’re nowhere near being able to stand up independently of integration with the western economies. And so we hit them where it hurts, and take the money now, and you crippled that nation’s economy in the hopes that their dictator and war criminal leader will either pull back or be gobbled.”
"People across the United States have found ways to distance themselves from Russia and show support for Ukraine," KRQE reported. Kroger, a national grocery chain, removed Russian vodka from their stores, and many states are pulling out of Russia-related investments.
New York's governor recently issued an executive order prompting state agencies to pull money from any investment in Russian companies, according to KRQE. The Pennsylvania Treasury has also announced that their state is divesting from Russian-based companies.
Candelaria is calling on New Mexico to do the same, though only a small portion of the funds have “exposure” to Russia, Charles Wollmann, spokesperson for SIC, said to KRQE.
“As of last week, we have about $7.9 million in exposure. So that would be 0.025% of the portfolio exposed to Russian stocks or bonds,” he said.
After viewing Candelaria’s tweet, Wollmann said it’s likely the investment council will take action at their next meeting, even if there is no directive to do so from state leaders, according to KRQE.
“Our managers, barring a directive, may act on their own out of prudency,” he said to KRQE. "After all, divesting could be a good investment decision, since Russian stock indices fell sharply over the last week."
Pulling investments for ethical reasons has been done before. In 2007, the SIC divested from investments connected to Darfur, KRQE said. At that time, the Sudanese government had been accused of committing war crimes related to genocide by the United Nations.
Candelaria is also calling on the state’s Educational Retirement Board and Public Employees Retirement Association to review their holdings. "Both groups invest funds to support retirement accounts for public workers," KRQE said.
