November 26, 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.
We recently had a billionaire try to influence our state constitution by spending millions on ads from a group that he started. He wanted to be sole owner of the only international bridge within more than a hundred miles and prevent the state from building another one. Fortunately the people voted his constitutional amendment proposals down, but, it could happen again and with other things. Big corporations should not be allowed to do this, and informing the public of their plans is definitely a good starting point. Big business needs controls and that is why we have government in the first place.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Charles Derry