Bruce Freed of The Center for Political Accountability and Eleanor Bloxham of The Value Alliance have an important op-ed in Barron’s about the long-standing opposition of the Big 3 institutional investors – BlackRock, Vanguard and Fidelity — to shareholder resolutions calling for disclosure of political disclosure and the connection to corporate political spending that has…
Category: dark money
Climate Change Lobbying Proposal Gets Majority Support at Chevron – Los Angeles Times
Here’s a shareholder resolution Chevron will find hard to ignore. At the big oil company’s annual meeting, held Wednesday in a virtual format, a majority of shares were voted in favor of a proposal that the company issue an annual report disclosing its lobbying expenditures on climate change and explaining how they align with the goals…
The Secret Battle to Strip Your Coronavirus Rights – TYT.com
“We have your back,” Bank of America says in a new video about the coronavirus. “We’re in it together.” But while Bank of America and other companies present a supportive face, some are working behind your back to make it harder to seek justice for corporate wrongdoing related to the coronavirus. Corporate lobbyists — including…
Center for Political Accountability on the SEC’s Proposed Rules on Proxy Proposals and Advisors
Behind the Chamber’s Attack on the Proxy Process, Fear of Disclosure – and CPA Founder’s Column By Bruce Freed Why is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce still running from sunlight? What are the Chamber and many of its members trying to hide? Just consider: –The Chamber receives dues from members it represents and “has spent…
More Baloney from Another Chamber of Commerce Sock Puppet
There’a another comment on the SEC’s proxy advisory proposal from a Chamber of Commerce funded dark money front group. This one was previously focused only on getting corporate-friendly lawyers appointed to the court (they actually argued that it was okay to have all white male nominees because the selections were based on qualifications, ignoring the…
Citizens United 10 Years Later: Ciara Torres-Spelliscy
Professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy testified about what we have learned about the impact of the Citizens United Decision after ten years. The full testimony, including disturbing information about the vicious cycle caused by more dark money raising the cost of campaigns, thus needing more dark money is below. An excerpt: Nearly a decade ago, I told…
Bart Naylor of Public Citizen: Testimony on Comment Abuse by Astroturf Fake Front Groups
Bart Naylor testified this morning in a hearing on the avuse of the notice and comment process by dark money-tuned fake front groups masquerading as public interest organizations. The full testimony is at the link below. The title of the hearing is “Fake It Till They Make It: How Bad Actors Use Astroturfing to Manipulate…
Sock Puppet Ike Brannon is Still Lying About Proxy Advisors
Ike Brannon is whining about proxy advisors again on the unedited commentary section of Forbes. We last wrote about Ike Brannon’s anti-proxy advisor propaganda more than a year ago, pointing out that he does not disclose the funders and connections behind his fabricated claims about proxy advisors. Since he does not, we will remind him…
Comment from Ciara Torres-Spelliscy on SEC Proposal
Stetson law professor Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, an expert on dark money and its pernicious impact on both public and private governance, has submitted an excellent and very persuasive comment to the SEC on the proposed rules for limiting shareholder proposals. The full text is in the link below. An excerpt: [T]he rule proposed by File No….
A Coal Baron Funded Climate Denial as His Company Spiraled Into Bankruptcy – The New York Times
As a company begs for corporate welfare, it spends outrageous amounts on CEO pay and climate change denial, revealed at last via bankruptcy filings. As his coal mining company hurtled into bankruptcy, Robert E. Murray, the former chief executive, paid himself $14 million, handed his successor a $4 million bonus and earmarked nearly $1 million…
