April 17, 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 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.
Why should such corporations be permitted to reject transparency? At the very least, this obstructionism creates the appearance of corruption . Transparency is emphatically in our public interest; how could it be otherwise? Americans' fundamental right to freely choose our elected representatives is in jeopardy, as is our republic. We can preserve both, but both now require the SEC's decisive affirmation. Please serve our citizens rather than selfish, anti-American, anonymous Corporate forces.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Vincent Kohl
Thurmont, MD