September 9, 2014
Mr. Brent J. Fields, Secretary
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street, Northeast
Washington, D.C. 20549
Re: File Number 4-637.
Re: Support for Disclosure on Corporate Political Spending
Dear Mr. Fields:
I am an investor in the US stock markets in publicly traded shares. As such I have an interest in knowing what actions a corporation takes that will either positively or negatively affect its stock price. As you well know, in the past couple of years there have been some high profile examples of corporations making political contributions that have negatively affected their stock price. In particular Target lost 3% of its value in one day after its contributions came to light. However, there is no requirement that corporations make such disclosures. I think this should be remedied.
Therefore I am writing in support of a petition by the Committee on Disclosure of Corporate Political Spending, File Number 4-637. In Citizens United v. FEC the US Supreme Court noted that shareholders could "determine whether their corporation's political speech advances the corporation's interest in making profits" and could discipline directors and executives who use corporate resources inconsistently with shareholder interests.
It is time for the SEC to act and take note of the more that 1 million citizens and shareholders who want this information made available
.Yours sincerely,
Angus Parker