Broc Romanek reports that:
According to a report released this morning by the CPA-Zicklin Index of Corporate Political Disclosure and Accountability - a joint effort of the Center for Political Accountability and Wharton's Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research - the S&P 100 are voluntarily moving to disclose their corporate expenditures on politics. This report is important in the wake of calls upon the SEC to enhance disclosure requirements in this area in the wake of the controversial Citizens United decision. Among the report's finding are:
- Disclosure & Board Oversight - 57 companies, or almost three-fifths, disclose on their websites their direct corporate political spending and have adopted board oversight, or they prohibit spending corporate cash on politics.
- Limits on Political Spending - Almost one-third place some limits on how they spend corporate dollars on politics. Nearly one in four companies declines to make independent political expenditures, which Citizens United permits. Colgate-Palmolive and IBM decline to spend corporate funds on political activity completely.
- Top 10 Best Disclosure Companies - Based on seven key indicators, the top 10 for political transparency and accountability: Colgate-Palmolive, Exelon, IBM, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, UPS, Dell, Wells Fargo and EMC.
- Indirect Spending - 43 companies disclose some information about their indirect spending through trade associations or other tax-exempt groups, including 501(c)(4)s.
- Independent Expenditures - 24 companies, or one-quarter, state on their websites that they will not make independent expenditures, as Citizens United allows.
Huh. Markets work. How about that.
Meanwhile, I'd like to see the comparable data for the major unions. My guess is they spend more and disclose less.
