February 1, 2013
Dear Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
I must join my fellow citizens in calling for an end to secret political spending by corporations.
As an activist in Atlanta who is working on comprehensive campaign and election reform in Georgia, this is a matter of great importance to me and one that I feel that this matters combined with those such as the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC, has led to the steady erosion and decline of our representative democracy.
So I strongly support the SEC issuing a rule in the near future that would require publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their spending on political activities.
Shareholders and the public deserve to the right to know how much a given corporation spends on politics (directly and through intermediaries), and which candidates are being promoted or attacked. In light of the recent elections where we had 37 individual large money donors spend the equivalent of 3.7 million small donors, we don't have an equal playing field. It's time the SEC help restore balance.
I appreciate the opportunity to comment and hope that you'll give me remarks and those of others responding serious consideration.
Sincerely,
Stacey Hopkins