From: Tom Herndon [herndon@sostrategy.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 10:44 AM
To: rule-comments@sec.gov
Subject: S7-10-03

I recently retired from Florida State Gov't. service after 32 years, the last 
6 of which were spent managing the investments for the Fla. Retirement system . 
At their peak assets under mngt. were approx.140 Billion although now they are 
considerably less. Part of the reason they are less is the pattern of misbehavior 
and out and out fraud committed by Corporate executives and others. You have an 
opportunity to address some aspects of this problem by reforming the way 
corporations allow shareholders to vote their proxies. Now I spend part of my 
time managing my own investments and am personally distressed  and angry by the 
cavalier way that corporations deal with  shareholder votes, up to and including, 
ignoring outcomes they don't like. You must do something to provide shareholders 
some further comfort that their preferences will not be ignored and help restore 
confidence in the markets. It would be appreciated if you would also address the 
selection of corporate directors so that shareholders have a meaningful voice in 
the selection. Thank you for your attention to this matter and please follow thru 
on the reforms begun under Sarbanes-Oxley so that investors can sleep better at 
night. 

Thanks

Tom Herndon
Southern Strategy Group
120 S. Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL  32301
Telephone:  (850) 671-4401
Fax:  (850) 671-4402