Blog — Elections

April 10, 2012

TAKE ACTION: Help us to “disinfect” Citizens United

By CREW Staff

Corporate, Elections, Federal Agencies, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Governance & Legislation, Citizens United

Citizens United logo Most of the time, when we try to curb the pernicious influence of big money on politics, we write about the FEC – the Federal Election Commission. In fact, we’ve got an entire website devoted to that agency’s dismal performance.

But it turns out there is another federal agency that can help make the political process fairer – by making it more transparent. That agency is the SEC – the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The Supreme Court’s dreadful Citizens United decision opened the floodgates for unlimited secret campaign contributions by corporations. The SEC can’t limit the contributions – but it can strip away the secrecy. The SEC’s mandate includes protecting investors from corporate abuse. This means the commission has the right to require all publicly traded corporations to disclose their campaign contributions.

But the SEC won’t act without public pressure. That’s why CREW is joining Public Citizen and others in urging the SEC to issue a rule requiring corporations to disclose their contributions.

Here’s how you can help:

Send an e-mail to: rule-comments@sec.gov

Make sure the the subject line is: Comment on File Number 4-637.

Then tell the SEC you want the agency to issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to publicly disclose all their political spending.

It’s often said that sunlight is the best disinfectant. Now you can help us "disinfect" Citizens United.