March 29, 2014
SEC
I am deeply concerned about the influence of corporate money on our electoral process.
In particular, I am appalled that, because of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, publicly traded corporations can spend investors' money in secret.
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.
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 am an American citizen, residing in Geneva, Switzerland, and voting in U.S. Federal elections using a Massachusetts address. There is money in politics in Switzerland also but nothing like in the U.S. From the perspective of years spent in other countries, I am now convinced that the U.S. is no longer a democratic country because of the central role that money is allowed to play in political elections. And, the resulting forced corruption of our elected leaders is the root cause of all of the country's major problems. Until there is compete reform of campaign finance laws, smaller steps must be taken to at least bring to light the cancer that is corporate money influencing elections. You can play a major part, so please get to it immediately. The health of the country and the American people is at stake.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Peter Cloutier