April 29, 2012
To: The members of the Securities and Exchange Commission
I am writing to urge the SEC to issue regulations that require publicly traded corporations to disclose political spending.
Shareholders and the voting public alike must be informed of the dollar value of all political activity a corporation engages in, and the identities of the candidates that are promoted or attacked.
'Political activity' should be defined as money and/or services given to a political party, an individual candidate, an issue-oriented PAC or "think-tank", or a PAC that supports or opposes a particular candidate.
These disclosures must be made within 15 days of the actual expenditure, and should be posted promptly on the SEC's web site.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
William Patton