May 1 , 2012
Dear members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
Over the last thirty or forty years, my wife and I have seen a continual erosion of our American democracy, with the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision being the proverbial "last straw"!
Thanks to this decision, corporations now have the ability to influence our elections through unlimited spending to either promote their preferred candidates or tear down their opponents. SEC regulations must ensure this spending is publicly disclosed far enough ahead of an election for voters to learn who is spending what for whom.
In order for the electorate to know who is trying to influence the election, we urge the SEC to issue rules that will require CEOs of corporations that trade shares publicly to disclose such political spending on the SEC's website. Moreover, the SEC should coordinate these disclosures with the FCC in order for them to be publicized on all media licensed and regulated by the FCC.
Of course the intent of any such rules and regulations could be circumvented by these entities unless the spending is somehow mandated to cease far enough ahead of an election so as to be accountable through these measures. In other words, they should not be allowed to wait until the eleventh hour in order to delay publication of their deeds until after the election.
Thank you for considering our comments.
Sincerely,
Nathan Baily