September 07, 2012
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.
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.
I'm aware that the Citizens United vs. FEC ruling permits unrestricted corporate spending in politics, claiming it as a First Amendment right. Under that logic, which says that money behaves like a form of speech and expression, we have no justification for keeping donations, like most any speech, secret.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Michael Klipper