February 1, 2013
Dear Members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
It is baffling to me why failing to disclose conflicts of interest is even an issue of debate in this day and age. It's so obviously wrong that it's self-evident. Politicians make decisions every day that affect businesses. If those businesses are paying them money, that should be publicly disclosed - hardly a novel idea, or rocket science.
It's long past time to end secret political spending by corporations.
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.
Both shareholders and the public deserve to know how much a given corporation spends on politics (directly and through intermediaries), and which candidates are being promoted or attacked.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Gayle Bourne