January 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.
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.
We are all disgusted with the Citizens United ruling against McCain / Fiengold ( Federal Election Commission ) to take it to the next level and use corporate monies to essentially buy our elections with tainted money. If the SEC can reign in the ruling of non-disclosure of financial support of candidates by these Super Pacs it will at least be a start in the right direction because there are many investors that would love to know where their money is really going and what the real story is. There are those that are as concerned with this whole thing as to side with the others of us against them to see that the truth is known.
Please consider this a wake up call to the investor accountability that we are seeking and not some worrisome invasion into high finance.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Shelagh Mayhew
Washington, MO