January 8, 2020
Via electronic submission
January 8, 2020
The Honorable Jay Clayton
Vanessa Countryman
Chairman Secretary
Securities and Exchange Commission
Securities and Exchange Commission
100 F Street NE
100 F Street NE
Washington, DC. 20549-1090
Washington, DC. 20549-1090
Dear Chairman Clayton and Secretary Countryman:
First and foremost thank you for serving American’s as Chairman and Secretary of the Securities and Exchange Commission. I trust that you will serve my interests above the interests of proxy advisory firms and non-profits pooling monies to influence corporate governance against my and my family’s interests. I feel like we are back in Vietnam when the American solders fighting for us won but politically the battle was lost and the recognition that should have been afforded to our servicemen and women were usurped by power players like Jane Fonda. How can the average person compete with that?
One such organization located in Berkeley, California "As You Sow is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting environmental and social corporate responsibility through shareholder advocacy, coalition building, and innovative legal strategies since 1992" does not represent my views especially as it relates to deforestation, fossil fuels and the second amendment. "In its shareholder advocacy, As You Sow represents a range of investors concerned about increasing corporate responsibility on environmental and social issues, with the understanding that when corporations proactively address these issues they reduce risk and improve company value over the long term.” The recent fires in Northern California show us that lack of maintaining our forests creates a whole lot of fuel to propel fires. The policies As You Sow and organizations like them are promoting and forcing on the rest of us is devastating our lives. They are the responsible parties to the fires for promoting views that fueled the fires. I’m just lucky enough to not have burned with the flames that overcame much of Sonoma and Napa Counties, but many others I know lost their homes, disrupted their livelihoods and their lives.
I grew up in Orinda, a stones throw from Berkeley, and I have been discouraged that my vote doesn’t count because the democrats gerrymandered our conservative district with liberal ones. This has happened throughout our great state. American politics should represent all Americans. I too am an immigrant, however I did not steal my way into America at the cost of its citizens and its culture. I resent organizations speaking on my behalf that do not have my best interests in mind, but rather the interests of political power players like foreign governments, social justice, and religious organizations I disagree with. That’s the problem. Purely based on their size they outnumber my single voice.
I represent one of many American’s I know that need a livelihood, a home and way of life that is not trampled by false narratives.
These days I find myself fighting to be heard above the voices in a crowd of immigrants. I’m not against them individually but as a group they have usurped my rights.
American’s interests are being given to those with power and wealth like proxy advisory firms and non-profits pooling monies against individual investors interests. Those firms represent investors interests but are not voting for my benefit. Instead they are voting for their agenda against my beliefs and forcing public firms to support abortion, gun control, and expensive fuel alternatives at shareholders expense. Please stop this from happening by supporting our individual rights against socially progressive agendas that we as shareholders disagree with and they force upon companies we invest in, decreasing our returns and more importantly devastating our lives.
Yours sincerely,
Carolin Thurm