February 23, 2012
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 investor’s money on political activity in secret.
I believe that corporate money has no place in the political sphere. The big corporations are already too powerful, to the detriment of ordinary citizens as well as the small, community-based businesses that are the true backbone of our economy.
In many cases--for instance with respect to environmental issues, health care, the safety of our foods, cosmetics, and other products, fair treatment of workers, etc.--the interests of corporations run counter to the interests of the people--and lately, corporations have been able to virtually write legislation that favors them and defeat legislation that inconveniences them.
This is a time of crisis for our democracy. We must stop the tidal wave of corporate spending in politics before it completely drowns out the voices and the interests of ordinary Americans--but, until we do, we at least have the right to know which corporations and individuals are giving large amounts of money to which groups.
Please act immediately to require publicly traded corporations to disclose how much money they are giving, and to which organizations, and then publish this information on your website.
Both shareholders and the public have the right to know.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Lisa Petrie
Carolina, RI