Divest from War Campaign
Fequently Asked Questions
How many signatures do we need, and by when?
We need almost 18,000 valid signatures from Seattle voters. In practice, this means that we really need to collect about 22,000 to 24,000 signatures, because many will be invalidated for various reasons.
We have until September 27 to collect the signatures, although we would appreciate receiving signatures as they are collected, so that we can measure our progress towards the final goal.
Is the Seattle Employees' Retirement Fund invested in companies targetted by this ballot initiative?
There is no easy way to know the answer to that question on a given day. The Retirement Board has hired several fund managers, each of whom controls a portion of the funds, and can invest that money however they see fit, including the buying and selling of stocks. For example, the 2006 annual report of the Seattle City Employees' Retirement System (the latest published as of the launch date of this ballot initiative, and available for download here), has a list of fund managers on page 17. Each of these fund managers is responsible for millions of dollars in retirement funds.
So it is possible that some of that money is invested in one of these companies today, but not tomorrow. Or vice versa.
The purpose of initiative 97 is not to force the selling of a particular set of stocks or bonds, but to set policy and guidelines that all of these fund managers will have to follow in all future transactions.
Does this ballot initiative result in divestment from companies like Boeing?
No. This ballot initiative is not calling for divestment from all weapons manufacturers. It has a narrow scope, and is meant to target companies that have a direct presence in illegally occupied land (for example Halliburton or Blackwater due of their activities inside Iraq, or Caterpillar due to their sale of equipment specifically for demolishing of Palestinian homes in the West Bank all of which are illegal activities). Selling arms to the US government (or any other government) is not an illegal activity, and does not expose the company's stockholders to future legal action.
It is just as likely that an attack on Iran will come from the US as from Israel. Why is the ballot initiative calling only for divestment from Israeli government bonds in case of an attack on Iran?
The short answer is that you cannot divest from yourself!
There are legal issues that could affect a divestment campaign targeting US government bonds, and we did not have the resources to address that.
Also, the threat of a divestment campaign against Israeli government bonds is actually likely to influence their behavior, whereas a divestment campaign against US government bonds is much less likely to influence the behavior of the US government.
Finally, we want this ballot language to actually be adopted by Seattle voters, and it is a lot less likely to be adopted if it called for divestment from US government bonds.
Why is the war in Afghanistan not covered by the ballot initiative?
Again, we are making a legal argument, that wars and occupations that are carried out without prior UN Security Council authorization are illegal, and those who participate in them are liable to prosecution and financial lawsuits. While many people are also opposed to the war in Afghanistan, there was prior UN Security Council authorization, making it more difficult to argue that it is an illegal war.
What is the timeframe for this initiative?
We have until September 27 to collect about 18,000 signatures from Seattle voters. If we succeed, the initiative will then go to the Seattle City Council. They will have 45 days to act on it. They have four options. They can adopt it, in which case it becomes part of the Seattle Municipal Code and the campaign is over. They can reject it, in which case it will go to the voters as a ballot initiative, sometime in 2009. They can refuse to act on it, in which case it will also go to the voters as a ballot initiative. Or they can pass a different measure on the same issue, in which case both versions are put to the voters. Again, this will most likely happen sometime in 2009.
What do the city workers think of this?
The individual workers that we have come across have almost all been very supportive. We have also contacted Local 17 of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the largest union representing city of Seattle workers. They emailed us to say that IFPTE Local 17 "has made a policy decision to not become involved in this issue."
In any case, state law is very clear on this issue. RCW section 35.39.032 says that the ultimate decision-making body for a city pension fund is the city's legislative authority, which, in our case, is the Seattle City Council, or the voters, via the initiative process. And I-97 is a petition to the city council, and will go to the voters only if the council doesn't act on it after 45 days.
Can tax-exempt nonprofit organizations endorse this campaign?
YES! The IRS prohibition on political activity applies to candidates for office. While there are limits on how much resources a nonprofit organization can devote to lobbying and ballot initiative campaigns, they are allowed to engage in this activity. A 2007 press release from the IRS ( http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=175818,00.html) made this very clear:
The prohibition against political campaign activity has been in effect for more than half a century and bars certain tax-exempt organizations from engaging on behalf of or in opposition to political candidates. However, these organizations can engage in advocating for or against issues and, to a limited extent, ballot initiatives or other legislative activities.
Basically, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization can endorse an initiative, and can even contribute time and money to the campaign, as long as this campaign work does not constitute the bulk of the nonprofit organization's work and budget. For the exact legal details, please refer to IRS Publication 1828 and IRS Publication 557.
How can one get involved with the campaign?
What we need, most of all, is help gathering signatures. For details, please visit the volunteer section of our web site at http://www.divestfromwar.org/volunteer.
