July 12, 2016
Comment on S7-06-16
Page 204-212
My understanding of how much a corporation spends on politics and sustainability, which specific issues and candidates they use corporate funds to support, and their actual investment in transparent corporate contributing are critical to my ability to make a reasonable investment and/or voting decision as a stock holder or investor in a specific corporation. Investors in general are much more aware of the impact of money on business practices since the Supreme Court decision on Citizens United. This activism impacts the decisions of the investment community and thereby impacts a corporations ability to maintain the investment value of their corporation.
The cost of timely recording of all such political contributions would be greatly outweighed by the amount of funds the corporation spends on political contributions to candidates and issues. It would seem reasonable to develop a web based system for disclosing the information by posting it on a section of the SEC web site. A standardized protocol for secure reporting could be developed with a cost ceiling for corporate political reporting of 10% of the funds directed at political investments in issues and candidate for each specific corporation.