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.
We already know that the biggest corporations in the world like Chevron and Monsanto lobby in droves to influence lawmakers in order to put profits over people. So it's not too far fetched to imagine that they would do the same to buy elections to ensure that they have lawmakers that are willing to do their bidding. But we don't know for sure, because right now, corporations can spend entirely in secret.
the Supreme Court never intended for corporations to be able to spend unlimited amounts of money in secret. SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White, You have the power to fix it. You make sure corporations are not allowed to spend in secret so we can hold them accountable.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
Elaine Balgemann