April 18, 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.
This would serve as a temporary fix until Congress can be persuaded to change the law to DISALLOW BUSINESS EXPENSE DEDUCTIONS for political contributions (after all, the only reason a contribution can be deducted as a business expense is if it is expected to increase profits, right? but making any contribution to increase profits is, by definition, BRIBERY!) and override Citizens United.
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.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Allan Richardson