Feb. 1, 2020
Dear SEC Rule Comments, American investors and the public - voters and taxpayers - want MORE accountability from corporate CEOs, not less. The SEC’s attempt to virtually eliminate shareholder oversight is reprehensible, and irresponsible. As the federal agency tasked with protecting American investors and funded by the taxpayers, the SEC should be encouraging a robust system of checks and balances between the owners of corporate wealth and the management of those corporations, not shutting down the main path for providing shareholder input. These new rules would make it harder for investors to raise emerging issues with the management, meaning that it would halt progress toward addressing critical issues impacting both corporations and our communities over the long term. An example: Years before Boeing’s 737 MAX model aircraft killed hundreds of people, the company’s shareholders filed proposals asking for more transparency about the company’s lobbying*, citing concerns about the company’s influence over regulators. Had the new rules been in place, those shareholders’ efforts to hold Boeing’s management accountable would have been stopped in their tracks. *Lobbying of the government by corporations should not be allowed at all. Under the highest loaw in the land only The (real) People have the Right to 'lobby' the government, in spite of a severely flawed court decision which has handed most of the power in the USA over to corporations, including multi-nationals which have no loyalty to any nation. The SEC should be facilitating the rights of shareholders, those who supposedly own portions of that corporation and to whom corporations should be accountable - not undermining it. Therefore, this new set of rules should NOT be advanced this new set of rules. Thank you for considering my comment. Sincerely, W GHADYK [redacted]