Teamsters ask: Where is Mary Jo White, and why isn't she making corporations disclose their political contributions?

Dark money is destroying our democracy. Corporations are secretly spending hundreds of millions of dollars to buy political favors. That money comes from ordinary people and institutional investors -- like pension funds -- that invest in those corporations.

Surely investors have a right to know how the corporations they're investing in spend their political dollars.

A month-long ad campaign launched today by investors and public interest organizations aims to persuade the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to require publicly traded corporations to disclose their political spending. The campaign features comic-book style posters at heavily traveled Union Station, which is near the SEC. In the ads, illustrations of frightened investors and voters call on SEC Chair Mary Jo White to save them from monsters that have taken shareholder democracy hostage.

The Teamsters are supporting the ad campaign -- for good reason. The union invests more than $100 billion in the capital markets through affiliated pension and benefit funds.

“Corporations are secretly spending millions of dollars on political campaigns, and as investors, the Teamsters are concerned that we cannot evaluate potential conflicts or risks,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is supposed to make sure corporations are open and honest with investors about where their money goes. Five years ago, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for massive, secret political donations in its Citizens United decisions. Ever since then, investors have been clamoring for corporations to be more open about their political spending.

A proposal to require corporations to disclose their political spending has languished before the SEC. The SEC chair, Mary Jo White,  has received more than 1 million comments supporting the proposal. And yet she hasn't done anything about it.

Rep. Michael Capuano, a Massachusetts Democrat, asked Mary Jo White about that in a recent congressional hearing. According to the New York Times, Capuano,

...observed that shareholders have a right to know how corporate cash is spent, and demanded to know why the S.E.C. has not required disclosure. Ms. White gave the same answer she has given since she became chairwoman in 2013 — essentially, that the agency is too busy with more important issues. 

Since then, however, the S.E.C. has added new issues to its agenda, while neglecting to put political-spending disclosure on its to-do list. The omission is indefensible, because the investors’ need to know will only grow as the level of anonymous giving rises.

You can help pressure the SEC to do the right thing. Follow this link to the Where Is Mary Jo White website and do as it suggests.

Today's Teamster News 05.28.13

Cambodia: Protest at Factory for Nike  Reuters   ...At least 23 workers were hurt in Cambodia on Monday after the police clashed with workers protesting wages at a factory that makes clothing for Nike, a union representative said...
Fashion retailer issues recall after finding radioactive material in belts  The Verge   ..."the incident is quite a common occurrence. India and the far east are large consumers of scrap metal," and during the refining process "radioactive sources are sometimes accidentally melted at the same time."...
Groups Targeted by I.R.S. Tested Rules on Politics  New York Times   ...a close examination of these groups and others reveals an array of election activities that tax experts and former I.R.S. officials said would provide a legitimate basis for flagging them for closer review...
Canadian Federal Court confirms the country’s 2011 election was Fraudulent  The European Union Times   ...The court emphasized in a Thursday ruling that it has found in no uncertain terms that widespread election fraud took place during the vote...
 On Victory Drive, Soldiers Defeated by Debt  ProPublica   ...Seven years after Congress banned payday-loan companies from charging exorbitant interest rates to service members, many of the nation's military bases are surrounded by storefront lenders who charge high annual percentage rates, sometimes exceeding 400 percent...
Another Day, Another Walmart Class Action Employee Lawsuit  About.com   ...This month, Walmart (WMT) found itself on the defending end of another massive employee class action suit in California when a California judge certified a class of 10,000 employees who think Walmart broke the law when it refused to provide suitable seating for its cashiers who requested it...
Public Unions Need to Stop Poisonous Koch Brothers From Buying Tribune Papers  AlterNet   ...They are considering buying the Tribune papers, which comprise eight major publications, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune. This would allow the Kochs to spread their right-wing nuttery even more effectively than they do now. But public unions could put a stop to this...
SC Boeing exec sends workers anti-union e-mail  Associated Press   ...The general manager of Boeing’s new plant in South Carolina has sent out an e-mail telling his workers that Boeing wants to keep the plant union free...
Rick Perry Vetoes GOP-Backed Disclosure Bill  Huffington Post   ...Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) vetoed a Republican bill Saturday that would have required nonprofits that engage in politics to disclose their donors...
Union-backed pension plan saves more than thought, Democrats say  Gatehouse News Service   ...A union-backed pension reform plan will cut the state of Illinois’pension debt by more than $9 billion, Senate Democrats said...
Texas prohibits nearly 70 percent of its counties from having a fire code  Dallas Morning News   ...Despite the lessons from the West Fertilizer Co. fire and explosions about the value of fire prevention, site security and safe storage of dangerous goods, Texas prohibits nearly 70 percent of its counties from having a fire code...
Texas State Legislature approves drug tests for unemployment benefits  Daily Caller   ...The Texas State Legislature approved a bill that would require workers who lose their job to pass a drug screening in order to receive unemployment benefits Saturday, according to news reports...
The latest WEDC revelations help explain Wisconsin's poor performance  The Isthmus   ...How much evidence do we need that Gov. Scott Walker's pro-corporate, anti-government rhetoric adds up to a whole lot of freebies for his cronies and absolutely nothing in terms of actually creating jobs?...
Montana using mortgage settlement funds to battle foreclosure  Independent Record   ...When Montana received nearly $6 million from a $25 billion national settlement with the nation’s five largest banks — a result of their shady mortgage practices — the state tucked away its share of the funding to help homeowners address the threat of foreclosure...
Privatization review bill shelved by Louisiana Senate committee  Times-Picayune   ...A bill requiring a more thorough review of privatization plans was shot down by a Louisiana Senate committee Monday. The measure, opposed by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration, had already received unanimous approval of the state House...

Could happen: Corporations forced to disclose spending on ALEC, stink tanks and astroturf groups

Corporations are secretly spending billions of dollars on politicians to do their union busting. (That's how No Rights At Work got passed in Michigan.) The union pension funds that invest in those corporations should -- at the very least -- know if they're donating money to anti-worker candidates, stink tanks or ALEC, the escort service for corporations and politicians.

Everyone, in fact, should be able to find out where publicly traded corporations are spending their political dollars.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is actually considering a rule that would force corporations to disclose their political spending. The SEC received a record 469,000 comments on the proposal. Only five of those comments were negative. Typically, the SEC gets fewer than 100 comments on its proposed rules.

Mark Gruenberg at People's World quotes  Lisa Gilbert, director of Public Citizen's Congress Watch, about the proposal:

Using new regulatory powers it got from the Dodd-Frank financial reform/crackdown law - enacted after Wall Street's speculative frenzy and collapse produced the Great Recession - the SEC is considering making firms more publicly accountable to their shareholders. That includes public worker pension funds. 

Its latest proposal is to order firms to justify their political spending to shareholders publicly and in advance, and to explain how such spending is "good for business," Gilbert said. If enacted, that proposal would take effect at once. 

Shareholders would then get a chance to weigh in, and possibly even vote, before firms spend their money for politicking by lobbies such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or secretive political institutions such as ALEC. The Chamber alone spent $36 million directly - and millions more indirectly - in last year's campaign, she said.

Michael Drucker writes in Independent View that shareholders should have the ability to opt-out of using their money for political campaigns. He explains how the SEC proposal would close a loophole in campaign finance reporting:

Federal law already requires political action committees to disclose corporate donations. By putting in place comprehensive disclosure rules, however, the SEC can plug a major loophole in the law, forcing companies to also reveal what they give to tax-exempt “social welfare” groups and trade associations, including chambers of commerce. 

These entities have often been used as vehicles for political spending by way of so-called issue ads, ads that purport to be educational, but are often veiled attempts to support a specific candidate or even party. 

In other words, the SEC could, in a single stroke, do what Congress and the courts have been unable or unwilling to do: require publicly traded companies to report all of their political spending.

Mary Jo White is President Obama's choice to lead the SEC, and it's likely her nomination will be approved. Drucker notes that all it will take to enact the rule is a yes vote by White and two of the four commissioners.

Let's hope she decides to do the right thing.