February 2, 2013
Dear Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
I strongly urge you to issue a rule requiring all publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose every dollar they spend on political activities and how they spend it. It's long past time to end secret political spending by corporations.
As a shareholder, whether directly or through mutual funds, I know that the money they spend is at least in part my money and I have a right to know what is spent on and whether it is spent in a way I consider consonant with my interests and values.
As a voter and a member of the public at large, I believe public disclosure of corporate political spending is vital to our democratic process. Voters need to know how much a given corporation is spending on politics (directly and through intermediaries), and which candidates or issues specific corporations are promoting or attacking.
Again I urge you to issue a rule requiring all publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose how much money they spend on political activities and how they spend it. Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Jody Reichel