March 28, 2014
SEC
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 investors' money in secret.
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.
In this age of "connection" we should be seeing ever-increasing levels of transparency. What we see is exactly the opposite, in general. There is a saying that "knowledge is power." Corporate America and the well-heeled members of American Society are doing all they can to keep the rest of the country "in the dark." For public activities, and for informed consumers and properly-served public, these efforts to limit knowledge and eliminate any transparency are completely contradictory to the supposed spirit of a democracy and a free society.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Steve Deibele