January 18, 2012
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.
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 order to have a true democracy, we desperately need campaign reform. It is wrong to allow corporations to contribute to campaigns without disclosing their expenditures. It is unfair to stockholders and to the voting public alike. Corporations are not people and should not have the same lack of restriction on what they do with their money!
Thank you for considering my comment.
Janet Williams
Oakland, CA