April 28, 2012
Dear members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
If my Congressperson was receiving financial support from a corporation I would want to know about it. Our Constitution presumes that "we the people" elected the members of Congress to represent our interests. If they have effectively been bribed to put the interests of a corporation before ours we deserve to know about it.
Also, if a Congressperson has received financial support from a corporation or industry, then they should recuse themselves from voting on any bill that is related. Otherwise there is a clear conflict of interest.
If publicly traded corporations can legally make donations that influence our elections, "we the people" deserve to know about it.
I am writing to urge the SEC 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.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Ellen Levett