March 29, 2014
SEC
I am deeply concerned about the influence of corporate money on our electoral process.
In particular, I am appalled that, because of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, publicly traded corporations can spend investors' money in secret.
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.
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.
In the Midwest, we are particularly concerned about the monetary spending done by the Monsanto Corporation. And Chevron has had overwhelming destructive influence in the Amazon and its tributary river areas in South America. Both of these greedy corporations place extreme emphases on the profits they can extract rather than considering the damaging impacts on the environment that will last perhaps for a century or more. It is not a simple matter to remove the toxins that both dump into natural areas, fresh water aquifers, and oxygen rich 'jungle' environs.
They especially try to hide/cover up their processes so the economically poorer/less educated/less democratic countries where they operate are blind to what is happening to their precious, dwindling resources.
Please take the necessary, immediate steps to bring pressure on the SEC to control the political spending of billions of dollars to control what we most need...open spending on elections to office by the voters of the United States of America. CORPORATIONS ARE NOT VOTERS...EXCEPT WITH THEIR HIDDEN $$$. OPEN UP THE PROCESS SO WE, THE PEOPLE, KNOW WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR ELECTING A 'DO NOTHING' CONGRESS. IT IS IN YOUR POWER AS TO WHO WILL BE OUR NATION'S LEADERS IN 2016 AND BEYOND.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Judy McNeilly