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Taking Initiative (2008)
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
How Corporate Contributions to
Ballot Measures Pose a Risk to Shareholders,
and Why Directors Must Oversee Company
Political Spending
Taking Initiative is the first comprehensive study of how corporations put themselves and shareholder value at risk by failing to critically examine their contributions to ballot measures. It explores the proliferation of the initiative in American politics as a means of polarizing and galvanizing voters, and takes a close look at how initiative campaigns have become the beneficiaries of corporate cash. Recent experience— California and Arizona provide some of the starkest examples—suggests that corporations sometimes contribute without a clear business rationale.