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CPA in the News

May 10, 2010 Funds Want More Disclosure of Railroad's Political Spending May 10, 2010
Virginia Pilot
by Robert McCabe
For the second year in a row, a group of New York City pension funds has asked shareholders of Norfolk Southern Corp. to push the railroad's board of directors to better disclose the company's spending on political activities. more

May 7, 2010 WellCare's Investor Wants Disclosure May 7, 2010
Health News Florida
by Jim Saunders and Mike Wells
A New York-based investor is pushing to require WellCare Health Plans --- a major contributor to Florida politicians and parties --- to disclose more information about how it spends company money on political... more

Apr 5, 2010 Shareholder Groups Seek to Limit Corporate Contributions April 5, 2010
Christian Science Monitor by Margaret Price
Shareholder groups aim to keep a lid on companies� political spending in the wake of Citizens United v. the Federal Election Commission, a case in which the Supreme Court eased restrictions on corporate campaign spending. more

Mar 11, 2010 Testimony of Professor John C. Coffee, Jr.    March 11, 2010
Subcommittee on Capital Markets, Insurance, and Government Sponsored Entities of the House Financial Services Committee
by John C. Coffee, Jr.
I am pleased and honored to be invited to testify here today. My message is simple: Congress cannot successfully...    more

Feb 23, 2010 CPA Demands Political Donations Disclosure    February 23, 2010
Corporate Secretary
Last week the Center for Political Accountability (CPA) sent 430 letters to members of the S&P 500 who do not yet disclose their political spending. The letter, whose numerous signatories include the Council of Institutional Investors, warns...    more

Feb 22, 2010 Valuing Corporate Politics    February 22, 2010
Pensions and Investments
by Roger Schillerstrom
The U.S. Supreme Court decision Jan. 21 relaxing legal constraints on corporate political advocacy spending makes disclosure of such spending more important than ever.    more

Feb 9, 2010 Investors Seek More Disclosure on Political Spending    February 9, 2010
Wall Street Journal
by Scott Thurm
An effort by activist shareholders to prod companies to disclose political contributions is taking on new urgency following last month's Supreme Court decision loosening restrictions on corporate political spending.    more

Feb 5, 2010 Global Proxy Watch Newsletter    February 5, 2010
Global Proxy Watch
US shareowner activists have been galvanized into collective action by Citizens United, the surprise US Supreme Court decision lifting most restrictions on corporate political spending...    more

Feb 5, 2010 In the Wake of Controversial Supreme Court Spending, Shareowner Activists Develop Plan for Corporate Disclosure of Political Spending    February 5, 2010
by Robert Kropp
Social Investment Forum
Asserting that excessive corporate political spending reduces shareowner value and weakens corporate governance, shareowner advocates call on corporations to adopt a framework for disclosure developed by the Center...    more

Jan 29, 2010 Corporate Campaign Spending: The Buck Stops Where?    January 29, 2010
AARP Bulletin Today
by Bill Hogan
In a game-changing decision handed down on Jan. 22, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for corporations big and small to pump as much money as they want into election advertising that explicitly promotes or attacks...    more

Jan 29, 2010 Corporate Campaign Spending: The Buck Stops Where?    January 29, 2010
AARP Bulletin
By Bill Hogan
In a game-changing decision handed down on Jan. 22, the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for corporations big and small to pump as much money as they want into election advertising that explicitly promotes or attacks...    more

Jan 28, 2010 Good Governance is Key to Policing Corporate Political Activities    January 21, 2010
The Council of Institutional Investors: The Voice of Corporate Governance
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court ruled today that the government may not bar companies, labor unions and other organizations from using their general treasuries to fund...    more

Jan 22, 2010 Day After: SCOTUS Ruling Not So Bad    January 22, 2010
Politico
by Jeanne Cummings
New money will flow into campaigns this year as a result of Thursday�s Supreme Court decision, but will the impact be as dramatic as all the hyperventilating in Washington suggests?    more

Jan 21, 2010 'Free at Last,' Business Says as Court Opens Campaign Spending    January 21, 2010
Bloomberg
by Lorraine Wollert and Jonathan Salant
Jan. 21 (Bloomberg) -- Business groups celebrated the potential for greater political influence as labor unions and shareholder activists began looking for ways to counter a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that...    more

Dec 14, 2009 More Companies are Disclosing Their Political Activity    December 14, 2009
USA Today
by Fredreka Schouten
WASHINGTON- Drugmaker Merck's political action committee donated more than $572,000 to federal candidates in the 2008 election and racked up $4.6 million in expenses to lobby Congress and the executive branch last year,...    more

Nov 7, 2009 Electon Spending: Reformers on Flood Watch    November 7, 2009
National Journal
by Sara Jerome
Doomsday scenarios from campaign finance reform advocates are enough to make you grab hip waders. A pending Supreme Court decision, advocates say, could "open the floodgates to unlimited corporate and union spending during...    more

Oct 24, 2009 Corporate America's Enlightened Disclosure    October 24, 2009
National Journal
by Julie Kosterlitz
Six years ago, Bruce Freed embarked on a seemingly quixotic quest. The former Senate investigator and newspaper columnist set out to get corporate America to reveal and rethink the cash that it lavishes on the nation's...    more

Oct 22, 2009 Shareholders Should Hear About Political Spending    October 22, 2009
Business Week
by Ciara Torres-Spellescy
On Sept. 9, about a month before the U.S. Supreme Court officially kicked off its 2009- 2010 term, the justices assembled to rehear a closely watched case about corporate campaign spending. Citizens United v. Federal...    more

Oct 1, 2009 Investors Urge Chamber Defections    October 1, 2009
Roll Call
By Anna Palmer
Activist shareholders are pressuring companies such as Nike to pull out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, arguing that the trade group�s stance against climate change legislation is incompatible with the companies� own positions.    more

Jun 10, 2009 Cash-for-clunkers deal moves ahead    June 10, 2009
Politico
By Lisa Lerer
A controversial auto bill that would reward consumers with tax credits for trading in their old cars and buying more-fuel-efficient ones passed the House on Tuesday, inching closer to becoming law.    more

Apr 17, 2009 El Paso advocates disclosure standards    April 17, 2009
Houston Business Journal
By Greg Barr
Bruce Freed has been prodding publicly traded companies for five years to provide details of political expenditures using corporate funds. His Washington, D.C., advocacy group, the Center for Political Accountability, sent...    more

Mar 24, 2009 Companies try to clean up their act    March 24, 2009
Politico
By Jeanne Cummings
Having the wrong political benefactor can be as toxic an asset as a bundled bunch of subprime loans. Just ask the PMA Group, Kuchera Defense Systems and Kuchera Industries, all companies caught up in a federal investigation...    more

Feb 23, 2009 Shareholder Advocates Want Political Disclosure    February 23, 2009
National Journal
By Robert Gettlin
The Center for Political Accountability, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that advocates for transparency and accountability in corporate political spending, has sent a letter to 19 financial companies that received...    more

Dec 17, 2008 Measuring Corporate Accountability    December 17, 2008
National Journal
By Bara Vaida
Companies over the years have gotten caught up in controversy by providing monetary support for hot-button state ballot measures. The most recent companies to get embroiled in such measures are Bolthouse Farms, Pacific Gas &...    more...

Jun 1, 2008 When Political Giving Doesn't Pay    June 1, 2008
Directorship
By Aaron Bernstein
As the 2008 presidential election hits full stride, your company may be inclined to shell out? through the legal channels of PACs, 527s, and other avenues?to the candidate perceived to be in the best interest of your company or...    more...

May 29, 2008 Corporations to Disclose Political Contributions    May 29,2008
New York Times Caucus blog
By Leslie Wayne
Boards of directors of Fortune 500 companies typically get involved in such matters as setting dividends, hiring executives and deciding on corporate strategy. But a new task has been added to the agenda of many...    more...

May 13, 2008 Companies Start to Lift Veil on Political Spending    May 13, 2008
Washington Post
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
Ever wonder how much companies really spend to influence government through trade associations? Well, a few corporations are coming clean, or at least cleaner.    more...

Mar 14, 2008 Political Blinders    March 14, 2008
Global Proxy Watch
By Stephen Davis
Should a company's board control its political spending, a task usually left to management? Some 62% of US directors think boards should oversee donations, and 57% think such spending should require board approval,    more

Feb 28, 2008 Companies to disclose political aid    February 28, 2008
Financial Times
By Francesco Guerrera
Five large US companies, including American Express and Xerox, will bow to shareholder pressure on Thursday and agree to disclose all their political spending.    more...

Feb 28, 2008 Disclosing gifts to trade groups: the next big thing in governance?    February 28, 2008
Financial Week
By Jeff Nash
Five U.S. public companies have agreeed to disclose the donations they make to trade associations and other non-profits that are used for political purposes, bringing the total number of companies now providing such disclosure...    more...

Jan 28, 2008 Monsanto bears up to baring its political contributions    January 28, 2007
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By David Nicklaus
A year ago, Monsanto resisted the idea of disclosing political contributions on its website. It said such reporting "would not be useful to shareowners and would be burdensome and an unnecessary expense to the...    more...

Jan 17, 2008 Is your portfolio politically slanted?    January 17, 2008
Christian Science Monitor
By Laurent Belsie
Do you know the political slant of your portfolio? Every election cycle, US businesses pour hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns, parties, and politically affiliated groups. Some of that money is...    more...

Jan 14, 2008 Corporate Governance special report    January 14, 2008
Wall Street Journal
By Andrew Yurkovsky
The pace of companies adopting policies to disclose their political spending has quickened, with 18 more companies in the Standard & Poor's 500 index agreeing last year to disclose such spending. According to the...    more...

Nov 16, 2007 Lifting the Curtain on Corporate Contributions    December 16, 2007
Conde Nast Portfolio.com
By Megan Barnett
During the first six months of 2007, Pfizer spent $128,969 from its corporate checkbook on political donations to Democratic and Republican politicians. It doled out another $614,300 to various party committees and...    more...

Sep 1, 2007 Show Us Your Money: Halting the Use of Trade Organizations as Convert Conduits for Corporate Campaign Contributions    September 9, 2007
Journal of Corporate Law
By Shayla Kasel
The US Chamber of Commerce (the Chamber) is the world's largest business federation, and the most financially influential trade organization. The Chamber is one of the top independent organizational contributors...    more...

Aug 12, 2007 Resolved: Public Corporations Shall Take Us Seriously    August 12, 2007
New York Times Sunday Magazine
By Dashka Slater
Daly's order, the Sisters of Saint Dominic of Caldwell, N.J., owns about 300 of the 5.5 billion Exxon Mobil shares outstanding, but she has used those few shares to keep the company talking about an issue that...    more...

Aug 1, 2007 What's Next for Governance?    August 1, 2007
Institutional Shareholder Services
Investors and U.S. corporate issuers came together as never before in 2007 to address a wide range of concerns and to better align views on corporate best practices.    more...

Jun 4, 2007 Proxy bids more than hot air    June 4, 2007
Financial Week
By Jeff Nash
With the 2008 election season ramping up, investors are increasingly asking companies to better disclose their political contributions?and in many cases, they?re getting what they asked for.    more...

May 1, 2007 As You Sow 2007 Proxy Season Preview    May 1, 2007
As You Sow
Every year there are hundreds of shareholder proposals on social and environmental issues that are directly relevant to the missions of foundations. The Proxy Season Preview provides a thorough and useful source of information to help foundations identify...    more

Apr 17, 2007 To Conceal Donors, Some Political Groups Look to the Tax Code    April 17, 2007
The Washington Post
By Jeffrey H. Birnbaum
An increasing number of organizations working to influence elections also are working to hide who is paying for their activities.    more...

Apr 11, 2007 Industry Giants Opening Up on Politics    April 11, 2007
Roll Call
By Tory Newmyer
The transparency tide sweeping Capitol Hill is reaching corporate suites far outside the Beltway.    more...

Apr 4, 2007 Major companies adopt political disclosure policies    April 4, 2007
Reuters
By Sarah Coffey
Major companies including DuPont (DD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Pfizer Inc. (PFE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) will now disclose which politically linked trade associations they fund, adding to the list of corporations adopting...    more...

Apr 1, 2007 Investors want facts on political donations    April 1, 2007
Financial Times
By Francesco Guerrera
Corporate America's traditional secrecy on political spending is under attack from an investor drive for greater transparency before the 2008 presidential election campaign.    more...

Mar 21, 2007 Nonprofit Calls on Firms to Include Donation Rules in Codes of Conduct    March 21, 2007
Wall Street Journal
By Dean Treftz
A shareholder advocacy group is calling for companies to include rules on corporate political donations in their codes of conduct, in order to avoid potential legal problems and perhaps scandal.    more...

Mar 6, 2007 A Peek Into Corporate America    March 6, 2007
The Washington Post
Not waiting for Congress to impose new disclosure laws, shareholder activists have persuaded some of the nation's largest companies to disclose their political spending on such things as issue campaigns. General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and...    more...

Jan 29, 2007 Cutting Risk by Disclosing Political Donations    January 29, 2007
Politico.com
By Andrew Glass
In politics, it often pays to be ahead of the curve. That holds true for corporate governance too, even more so when politics enter the equation.    more...

Jan 28, 2007 Monsanto bears up to baring its political contributions    January 28, 2007
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By David Nicklaus
A year ago, Monsanto resisted the idea of disclosing political contributions on its website. It said such reporting "would not be useful to shareowners and would be burdensome and an unnecessary expense to the...    more...

Jan 24, 2007 Home Depot Agrees to Disclose Political Donations    January 24, 2007
Bloomberg News Service
By Vineeta Anand
Home Depot Inc. agreed to disclose its political donations for the first time, one of several new policies that may help appease investors angered by former Chief Executive Officer Robert Nardelli's severance package.    more...

Dec 1, 2006 Cause-Related Funding: Critics Want Disclosure    December 1, 2006
The Issue Barometer
Hard questions are being asked about "soft money" corporate spending.    more

Nov 7, 2006 Activists Say BP Breaking Promise on Campaign Donations    November 7, 2006
Dow Jones Newswires
By John M. Biers
BP PLC (BP), which vowed to refrain from making political donations in 2002, has come under renewed criticism over a series of recent U.S. contributions that shareholder activists say contradict its pledge.    more...

Aug 22, 2006 Lifting the veil of secrecy on corporate political donations    August 22, 2006
Financial Times
By Francesco Guerrera
When President Theodore Roosevelt railed against business people for putting their fortunes "only to the basest of uses", he did not include currying political favour as one of the abominations of those "malefactors of...    more...

May 31, 2006 Does your company keep political secrets?    May 31, 2006
Fortune
By Marc Gunther
Transparency is a big trend these days in corporate America. Under pressure from regulators, shareholders and activists, Fortune 500 companies are becoming more open about executive pay, the makeup of their workforce, the safety of their...    more...

May 14, 2006 Secrets of Corporate Giving    May 14, 2006
Time
By Douglas Waller
Merck prides itself on being socially enlightened. The drugmaker gives its employees diversity training and extends health insurance to same-sex partners. But a report to be released this week by the Washington-based Center for Political...    more...

Apr 25, 2006 Watchdog group makes quiet gains for transparency in corporate giving    April 25, 2006
The Hill
By Elana Schor
With ethics and campaign-finance reform making plenty of headlines this year, one might think the watchdog Center for Political Accountability would be a household name inside the Beltway. But the group operates mainly under the radar...    more...

Apr 5, 2006 Investors Seek Clarity on Campaign Giving    April 5, 2006
Wall Street Journal
By Jeanne Cummings
As Congress debates new campaign-finance rules, shareholder groups are pushing companies to do a better job of disclosing political donations.    more...

Mar 20, 2006 More Firms' Political Ties Put Online    March 20, 2006
Los Angeles Times
By Jonathan Peterson
Under pressure from shareholder activists, a small but growing number of major U.S. companies have agreed to disclose their political donations on their corporate websites.    more...

Mar 10, 2006 This Year's Proxy Issue: Political Contributions    March 10, 2006
American Banker
By Jim Cole
Shareholders are pushing Citigroup Inc. and several other banking companies this proxy season to fully disclose their political contributions.    more...

Jan 31, 2006 Up Front    January 31, 2006
Business Week
By Nanette Byrnes
General Mills (GIS ) has become the latest company to agree to disclose its political donations -- and the sixth this year. It joins Amgen (AMGN ), Bristol-Myers Squibb, Staples, Southern Co. (SO), and McDonald's (MCD ) in...    more...

Jan 18, 2006 Pressure On Boards to Oversee Soft Dollars Hardening in 2006    January 18, 2006
Dow Jones
By Tiffany Kary
As a political storm continues to gather over the dealings between former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff, it isn't just politicians who need to be wary. Companies are also reassessing their political...    more...

Dec 16, 2005 Shining Light on Corporate Political Gifts    December 16, 2005
The New York Times
By Floyd Norris
WHICH politicians - and which political causes - are your companies financing? Will those contributions come back to haunt them as prosecutors go after lobbyists for expenditures that could be deemed contributions - or...    more...

Sep 26, 2005 Funds vote down political disclosure proxies    September 26, 2005
Reuters
Mutual funds, which hold more than 22 percent of U.S. corporate stock, overwhelmingly voted against proposals to require corporations to disclose political contributions in the 2005 proxy season, a new study found.    more...

Jun 15, 2005 Missing in Action?    June 15, 2005
Roll Call
By Tory Newmyer
NAM promised to fight vigorously for Bush's judges. Or did it?    more

Jun 1, 2005 Proponents Score Several Wins in Spring Season    June/July 2005
IRRC's Corporate Social Issues Reporter
By Carolyn Mathiasen and Meg Voorhes
The spring 2005 proxy season for corporate responsibility issues was notable for a new campaign, led by AFSCME and the state of Minnesota, questioning drug companies on their policies...    more...

May 1, 2005 J&J, Schering-Plough Boards Will Oversee Donations    May 1, 2005
Board Alert
Following the lead set by Morgan Stanley and Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough have agreed to publicly disclose and explain the reasons for their corporate political contributions. The firms' boards, in a move that goes beyond what...    more...

Apr 7, 2005 NPR Report on Johnson & Johnson, Schering-Plough Political Disclosure Moves    April 7, 2005
National Public Radio
Peter Overby
National Public Radio covered the decision by pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough to disclose and require board oversight of the political contributions they make with corporate funds.    more...

Mar 6, 2005 Investors turn focus to political contributions    March 6, 2005
Chicago Tribune
By Andrew Countryman
Amid the scores of shareholder resolutions filed each proxy season, a growing number of investors want to know where companies are spreading their political contributions.    more...

Feb 14, 2005 BellSouth, Citigroup, Eli Lilly Urged to Disclose Donations    February 14, 2005
Bloomberg News Service
By Jonathan D. Salant
BellSouth Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. are among more than 30 companies that will be asked by institutional investors including unions to disclose their political donations and the reasons for them.    more...

Nov 1, 2004 Strange Bedfellows    November 1, 2004
IR Magazine
By Jana Sanchez
Enron's collapse in 2001 turned media - and beleagured shareholders' - attention to corporate political donations. The energy giant's political generosity seemed to give its executives particularly former chairman Kenneth Lay,...    more

Sep 1, 2004 Election Year Focuses Shareholders on Corporate Political Contributions    September 2004
By Shelley Alpern
Until very recently, the socially responsible investment (SRI) movement has devoted relatively little attention to the problem of corporate political giving. Having nothing to do with companies that donate unseemly sums to political causes may sound...    more...

Aug 16, 2004 Business behavior is too opaque    August 16, 2004
Oregon Live.com
News items remind us of two types of corporate information that should be made prominently available to shareholders, employees and creditors.    more...

Apr 26, 2004 Activists Target Political Gifts: Dozens of companies face shareholder resolutions calling for more-detailed accounts of donations    April 26, 2004
Los Angeles Times
By Jonathan Peterson
In an election-year burst of activism, shareholders have targeted dozens of companies with resolutions urging that they provide enhanced, easily accessible details of all their political donations.    more...

Apr 16, 2004 U.P. political gifts are questioned    April 16, 2004
World-Herald
By Stacie Hamel
The Washington, D.C.-based center distributed information this week reporting that U.P. made $1,032,022 in corporate contributions in the 2002 election cycle and that the company "gave to conduits that, in turn, contributed to...    more...

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