Dear Friend:
The U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United reversed a century of law and effectively opened the floodgates for corporations to spend without limit in our elections. That’s why as Trustee of the New York State Common Retirement Fund I've pushed the companies we invest in to be totally transparent and disclose where and how they spend corporate funds for political purposes.
Five years after Citizens United, we are making real progress holding corporations accountable.
Since 2010, the $176.8 billion Fund has filed almost 100 shareholder resolutions seeking disclosure of corporate spending, and has persuaded 27 Fortune 500 corporations to adopt comprehensive disclosure policies pertaining to their spending on candidates, political parties, ballot measures, lobbying and trade associations.
So far in 2015, we have persuaded six more corporations to disclose their political spending. And asBloomberg recently reported, in its coverage of our latest agreement with United States Steel, support for increased daylight on corporate dollars in politics has grown since the Supreme Court’s ruling.
In his majority opinion, Justice Anthony Kennedy actually pointed the way for investors like the Fund to seek the facts on political spending through “corporate democracy.”
While we’ve succeeded in creating a new standard for good corporate governance in this area, there is much work to be done.
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National legislative or regulatory action on disclosure is needed. It’s clear that it will take increased pressure to make this happen. As a recent New York Times editorial calling on the S.E.C. to take action noted, “investors' need to know will only grow along with the level of anonymous giving.”
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Until the Securities and Exchange Commission, the White House or Congress acts to overcome Citizens United, the New York State Common Retirement Fund will continue our push for transparency on corporate dollars in politics one company at a time.
Sincerely,
Tom DiNapoli
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