Somewhat unintuitively, American corporations today enjoy many of the same rights as American citizens. Both, for instance, are entitled to the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. How exactly did corporations come to be understood as “people” bestowed with the most fundamental constitutional rights? The answer can be found in a bizarre—even farcical—series…
Category: Citizens United
Fiduciary Blind Spot: The Failure of Institutional Investors to Prevent the Illegitimate Use of Working Americans’ Savings for Corporate Political Spending by Leo E. Strine :: SSRN
A very significant piece by one of the most respected and knowledgable experts on corporate governance, Leo Strine. In recent years, there has been a heartening improvement in the self-awareness of the major mutual fund families — BlackRock, Vanguard, State Street, and Fidelity (the “Big 4”) — that have Worker Investors’ capital. This Big 4…
The Corporate Donors Behind a Republican Power Grab – The New York Times
David Leonhardt writes about the corporations behind the unprecedented undermining of democracy in Wisconsin, including Walgreens. Walgreens portrays itself as the friendly neighborhood drugstore. It gives flu shots to children, helps communities after storms, donates to charity — and makes feel-good advertisements trumpeting its various good deeds. But Walgreens also has a tougher side, one…
Origin Energy hit by protest vote over industry lobby groups | afr.com
Origin Energy has responded to investor pressure and will in future fully disclose its membership of industry organisations and where their policies differ to its own on climate change in what is being seen as a significant win for the anti-carbon lobby. The decision came after a remarkable 46.3 per cent of proxy shareholders went…
2018 Report on Corporate Political Contributions from CPA
Every year we look forward to the latest update from the Center for Political Accountability about corporate political contributions. They are one of our favorite sources for information about the use of shareholder money for campaign contributions and lobbying. This year’s study title is blunt: Collision Course: The Risk Companies Face When Their Political Spending…
Main Street Investors Coalition: Comes Sort of Clean and Also Does Not
Those rascals at the fake dark money front group Main Street Investors Coalition are at it again. Just to recap, this is the CEO-funded organization that has no relationship whatsoever to Main Street or investors and the only coalition it represents is the National Association of Manufacturers members and other corporations who provide its funding….
More Smoke and Mirrors from the Main Street Investors Coalition
Thanks to our prodding, the fake dark money front group Main Street Investors Coalition is now admitting that it has no connection to Main Street or investors and is in fact funded by corporations. Yet, in an essay by Advisory Board Chair Bernard Sharfman in P&I (accompanied by a disclaimer disavowing any editorial approval), MSIC…
Treasury says some banks are not financial-services firms, giving them a new tax break
We’re living in the world of Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty: “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty…
VEA Vice Chair Quoted in NY Times Expose of the Corporate-Funded “Main Street” Investors Coalition
VEA Vice Chair Nell Minow is quoted in the New York Times Dealbook expose of the dark money Main Street Investors Coalition: Why would the Main Street Investors Coalition want to do this? Because it should probably be called the National Association of Manufacturers — after all, that’s the name of the industry group that…
Pushing Back on Dark Money
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock signed a first-of-its-kind executive order Friday to require many state government contractors to report their political contributions, even those to so-called “dark money” groups that don’t have to disclose donors under federal law. Bullock said the measure is an example of how states can bring transparency to spending by groups classified…
