Subject: File No. 4-637
From: Frank Furey

April 5, 2013

I am writing to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending – and to do so this year.

It's time to put "Big Brother" out to pasture. How about going after the money-changers on Wall Street who both ripped off and almost destroyed our economy. Congress is in serious need of a priority straightener!

Another nail in the coffin of democracy if corporate robber barons are permitted to buy news organizations and continue their on-gong efforts to corrupt information into disinformation, misinformation and out right lies. Let's get some serious protections for the general public and both reduce and regulate the activities of the money changers and corporations who are over-subsidized, over-protected and overly greedy at the expense of the middle class and the disadvantaged.

“Dark money” groups that accept contributions from corporations, but are not required to publicly identify their corporate donors, spent millions of dollars during the 2012 elections. It is a scandal that money from publicly traded corporations – which belongs to investors – can be secretly spent to distort our democracy.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission created the loophole that enables this secret spending, but the SEC has the authority to close it.

Both shareholders and the public must be fully informed as to how much corporations spend 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.

Frank Furey

Bala Cynwyd, PA