January 12, 2013
The Securities and Exchange Commission has the power to require publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending – and to do so this year.
. It is a scandal that money from publicly traded corporations – which belongs to investors – can be secretly spent to distort our democracy. Partof the purpose of the SEC's existence is to prevent exactly this kind of nefarious attack on democracy, freedom, and the right of every citizen to a meaningful voice in matters that affect them. Yet these secret infusion of such obscene amounts of money not only undermine, but destroy those rights.
Evil flourishes in darkness; the darkness of secrecy not only allows but encourages this particular evil, which spawns so many others in our once-great nation. It is noteworthy that evidence exists that some of the people behind this corruption are the same ones that have the word "freedom" most often in their mouths.
The SEC is uniquely empowered to shine desperately needed light into this darkness. Please, please use that power to the fullest.
Both shareholders and the public must be fully informed as to how much corporations spend on politics and which candidates - or issues - are being promoted or attacked. Disclosures should be posted promptly on the SEC’s web site.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Mary-Alice Shemo
Plattsburgh, NY