February 1, 2013
Dear Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
Secret political spending by corporations is obviously against the public interest - indeed, contrary to the principles of an open society. Decisions as to which bills or candidates are to be supported will have been made by the members of corporate boards accountable, if at all, only to their shareholders.
The secrecy, moreover, implies that those people are aware that their decisions would not withstand public scrutiny. The democratic process is already skewed by open, documented political contributions from big business: that such contributions are often secret aggravates their malign effect.
The SEC now has an opportunity to make this distortion of US political life more visible and thus more susceptible to reform.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Jon Christopher Geissmann