From: E. David Cronon [edcronon@wisc.edu] Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2003 8:42 PM To: rule-comments@sec.gov Subject: Shareholder governance rights (s7-10-03) Dear SEC members: Although we don't consider ourselves wealthy, my wife and I have owned securities and mutual funds for many years. We have been disturbed at the recent revelations of the extent of corporate fraud, the shockingly exorbitant salaries, perks, and golden parachutes paid to top corporate executives (even for poor performance), the ineffectiveness of most "outside" directors, and the limited attention paid to the interests and opinions of small stockholders. There is great need of reform if we are to preserve a healthy free market capitalist system. As a start, we very much hope you will develop rules that strengthen the ability of shareholders to influence the boards of directors and corporate management of enterprises of which the shareholders are the real, not just nominal, owners. A start would be to require more (or all) directors to be truly independent of the corporate management and truly representative of the interests of the shareholders. Sincerely, E. David Cronon Mary Jean Cronon