May 18, 2007 12:49 AM

Mea Culpa

I was ready to be outraged that Rudy Giuliani and John Edwards both have invested in companies that are doing business in Sudan.

But then I found out that I'm doing it, too.

Unlike Giuliani, I don't have $13 million to $45 million to throw around, although I think I can make a better estimate of my, uh, wealth than give-or-take $32 million. Let's just say it's also somewhat less than Edwards' $29 million, which is what happens when you've never worked for a hedge fund.

Of course, since I'm not running for president, no has ever asked me to disclose my vast holdings. But I do have a 401(k) plan. And it turns out that one of the mutual funds I'm invested in is apparently a Sudan offender. It's the Vanguard Wellington Fund, which I found out about because Barack Obama had money in the same fund and got rid of it.

According to the stories, including this one from Wall Street Journal Online, Obama "discovered that about 0.46% of the funds in the Vanguard account are invested in Schlumberger Ltd., the world’s largest oilfield services company. Because Schlumberger does business in Sudan, Obama transferred the $180,000 in that fund to the Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund."

I'm going to make the same transfer. It's tough to figure out what nasty business your mutual fund is invested in -- only that you can expect it's probably invested in several kinds of major nastiness.

But if you want to be serious about it, you can go online to the Sudan Divestment Task Force, which offers a screening tool that can help you find out about Sudan. I used it and came up with the same numbers that Obama did.

If you check, at least you'll know if you're contributing to the horrors in Darfur and might look for another investment.

The Edwards campaign says its candidate -- the two-Americas guy, the war-on-world-poverty guy -- will divest. You'd hope so. And maybe sell his big house, too. And get his hair cut less often (it works for me).

The Giuliani campaign says its guy will look into the matter -- the matter amounting to from half-a-million to a million bucks, also invested in Vanguard Wellington Fund. According to the AP, the campaign says Giuliani will "take appropriate action."

Sam Brownback has dumped his Sudan-related stock as well. I'm sure all the candidates are looking closely now, too, at their holdings. If more of us do the same, this long, long presidential campaign might actually do some good.

Posted by Mike Littwin at 12:49 AM | Comments (1)