Novwmber 14, 2013
I am writing to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending – and to do so this year.
“Dark money” groups that accept contributions from corporations, but are not required to publicly identify their corporate donors, spent millions of dollars during the 2012 elections. It is a scandal that money from publicly traded corporations – which belongs to investors – can be secretly spent to distort our democracy.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission created the loophole that enables this secret spending, but the SEC has the authority to close it.
Both shareholders and the public must be fully informed as to how much corporations spend on politics and which candidates are being promoted or attacked. Disclosures should be posted promptly on the SEC’s web site.
Transparency in fundraising, lobbying and policy making should be required for all branches and levels of government, whether through laws, regulations or executive order. Unfortunately, our elected officials have not shown the political will to enact such legislation, so I am hoping the SEC will listen to the citizens and require publicly traded corporations to fully disclose their political contributions.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Doug Sugai