April 29, 2012
Dear members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
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.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
I like many, many other Americans was astonished by the action of the Supreme Court in their “Citizens United” decision. I’m no attorney but I thought a major reason for the creations of corporations was to protect the owners from liabilities for which they might otherwise be responsible. Proclaiming corporations possess virtually the same rights as US citizens is simply wrong. Allowing corporations to donate amounts of money so large they own the politicians has handed the government of what had been the greatest nation in the world to what are rapidly becoming Corporate States. I can’t foresee any reason for the court to revisit this decision as long as Roberts is Chief Justice and he is a young man. I can’t imagine the legislature will write laws that might overturn the court. Why should they; the Supreme Court has handed them unlimited amounts of money. The only dim light I can see would be for the SEC to require disclosure and immediate disclosure would be the best. The internet gives us a tool that just might allow the real citizens of the US to vote with our pocketbooks and the very bright light of dissemination of facts. Please at least give us that tool. John Hablinski
Sincerely,
John Hablinski