July 25, 2013
The madness must be stopped! I demand you and the Securities and Exchange Commission issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending – and to do so this year.
Money is killing our Democracy- and the law actually supports my request.
The original language regarding tax exempt atatus is that it only be granted to groups "EXCLUSIVLEY" acting to further public welfare. NOT "primarily"- EXCLUSIVLY.
“Dark money” groups that accept contributions from corporations, but are not required to publicly identify their corporate donors, spent millions of dollars during the 2012 elections. It is a scandal that money from publicly traded corporations – which belongs to investors – can be secretly spent to distort our democracy.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission created the loophole that enables this secret spending, but the SEC has the authority to close it. And we are working to roll that back.
Both shareholders and the public must be fully informed as to how much corporations spend on politics and which candidates are being promoted or attacked. Disclosures should be posted promptly on the SEC’s web site. Well informed citizens are vital for a functional democracy.
Thank you for considering my comment.
wendy ballard
laguna beach, CA