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.
[personal text begins here -- remainder is boilerplate, which I agree with]
This is a great opportunity to undo some of the damage done by Citizens United, and perhaps to push corporate law in a better direction at the same time.
Corporations are required by law to prioritize the interests of their shareholders over the preferences of their top executives (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Company). Allowing CEOs to hide corporate political contributions from both the public and shareholders serves neither the shareholders nor even the public.
The only interest it serves is profit for the sake of profit. It is the government's job to see that corporations serve their stakeholders and the public rather than simply maximizing profits for the owners at the expense of everyone else.
I urge you strongly to intervene in this matter, and require full disclosure of corporate political spending -- whether it regards individual candidates or other issues.
[/personal text]
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,
Nick Staddon