February 14, 2012
Securities and Exchange Comm.
Dear Securities and Exchange Comm.,
I urge the Securities and Exchange Commission to issue a rule requiriing publicly-traded corporations to disclose their political spending publicly. The SEC has a mandate to protect the interests of shareholders, and since corporations spend shareholders' money, requiring disclosure of political spending protects said interests.
We should not believe that corporations have an inalienable "right" to protect themselves from scrutiny; a corporation is a thing, a thing that exists to serve people, and people deserve more protection from our laws than corporations. Nor should we believe that disclosure would "kill jobs." If corporations sitting on trillions of dollars can't survive disclosure of campaign spending, then they're too weak to save anyway.
Sincerely,
Alec Mento