May 9, 2013
Dear members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
I am writing to urge the SEC to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending.
What we really need is to get all corporate money out of politics, to roll back Citizens United, end corporate personhood and institute public financing of elections. But you can, at the very least, require publicly traded companies to disclose the money they spend on politics.
In the short term, given how corrupt the system is, think of the fact that non-profit organizations are restricted from advocating for the needed services many provide, but corporation are allowed to give as much as they want and without scrutiny. Disclosure of corporate political spending would be a meaningful, though small, step forward and achievable.
Both shareholders and the public must be fully informed as to how much the corporation spends on politics and which candidates are being promoted or attacked. Disclosures should be posted promptly on the SEC's web site.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Dannie Ritchie