April 29, 2012
Dear members of the Securities and Exchange Commission:
I am writing to urge the SEC 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.
Any good Republican ought to remember it was George W. Bush who had "accountablility" as one of his primary campaign slogans. Open book management for publicly traded companies is not only fair, but just plain old common sense, although common sense tends to be sorely lacking across the board and doesn't tend to figure into the corporate mentality or bottom line much. Shareholders and consumers ought to know the political motivations the companies their invested in or purchase goods or services from have, in case their political views differ, so they might have the fair opportunity to take their investments elsewhere if they so choose. Publicly traded companies ought not be in the business of keeping secrets, for if they're trying to hide anything, than they're probably up to no good.
Common sense?
Thank you for considering my comment.
Sincerely,
james hollis