November 6, 2013
SEC Comment file 4-637
Dear Comment file 4-637,
I am deeply concerned about the influence of corporate money on our electoral process.
In particular, I am appalled that, because of the Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, publicly traded corporations can spend investor's money on political activity in secret. The Supreme Court has been ruling for over 127 years that corporations have constitutional rights. This is wrong. Only living breathing people have constitutional rights. Corporations have privileges that "we the people" grant corporations through our elected officials. Please help us to take the first step toward more democracy and require corporations to disclose all the money they spend in politics.
I am writing to urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending.
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,
Judith Young