The campaign to intimidate companies from exercising their free-speech rights is in high gear as shareholder proxy season arrives, and the most prominent early target is health-insurer WellPoint. The arc of this attack will be one of the election year's political leitmotifs, and it should be on the radar of every corporate boardroom.
In the favored new tactic of the left, unions and activists are using politicized shareholder resolutions to send a message to corporations: Drop support for free-market and conservative causes, or you'll take a political beating. ...
The larger political goal is also to stigmatize and shut down funding sources for any business group that seeks to influence policy debates, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. ...
... The proxy campaign is part of the larger campaign by unions and liberal lobbies to demonize corporate donors so they leave the political field to unions and liberal lobbies. Expect more of this in the months to come.
via online.wsj.com
This is basically the case I've been making about shareholder activism for years, including my last two books:
