The City of St. Petersburg, Florida yesterday passed an ordinance designed to take the question of “Super PACs” to the Supreme Court for the first time. The ordinance, which we discussed in detail earlier this year, imposes a $5,000 limit on contributions to groups that raise money for or make
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Corporate Political Spending Disclosure
Is Corporate Political Disclosure Leveling Off? Crunching the latest CPA-Zicklin Numbers
By Zachary G. Parks on
Posted in Corporate Political Spending Disclosure
For years, the Center for Political Accountability’s annual CPA-Zicklin Index of corporate political practices has touted marked year-over-year increases in corporate political disclosure practices. Look at the subtitles for its recent reports: How Leading Companies are Strengthening Their Political Spending Practices (2013), How Leading Companies are Making Political Disclosure a …
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Corporate Political Disclosure Fight Shifts to Mutual Funds
By Zachary G. Parks on
Posted in Corporate Political Spending Disclosure
Corporate political disclosure activists this week launched a new tactic in their fight to pressure companies to publicly disclose information about their political and lobbying activities.
For more than a decade, public pension funds and others have aggressively pushed shareholder resolutions that call on public companies to self-disclose information about…
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New Report Calls Out Corporate Political Disclosure “Basement Dwellers”
By Zachary G. Parks on
Posted in Corporate Political Spending Disclosure
A report published today criticizes companies that refuse to disclose information about their political spending on their websites. The non-profit Center for Political Accountability and the Zicklin School at Wharton annually rank all companies in the S&P 500 on their political disclosure practices, based on a 70-point metric. The more…
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Congressional Spending Bill Shuts Down Key Goals of Campaign Finance Reform Community
By Zachary G. Parks on
A major spending bill posted late last night by Congressional leaders contains provisions shooting down two key initiatives of the campaign finance reform community.
Stymied by a Federal Election Commission that has increasingly struggled to find consensus, campaign finance activists in recent years have turned their attention to other federal …
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New Report Adds Pressure For Public Companies to Voluntarily Disclose Political Spending
By Zachary G. Parks on
Posted in Corporate Political Spending Disclosure
A report published today by the Center for Political Accountability will result in more pressure on public companies to voluntarily disclose information about their political spending.
Each year, CPA in collaboration with the Zicklin Center at the University of Pennsylvania issues a detailed report “scoring” companies on their corporate political…
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CPA-Zicklin Index for 2015 Expected To Rank Entire S&P 500
By Zachary G. Parks on
Posted in Corporate Political Spending Disclosure
Covington has recently learned that, for the first time ever, the CPA-Zicklin Index, which ranks companies’ political disclosure practices, plans to issue rankings for all 500 companies in the S&P 500 Index. This is a significant expansion of the Index, which will impact many public companies that have not previously…
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Covington Releases How-To Guide For Responding To Corporate Political Disclosure Initiatives
By Zachary G. Parks on
Posted in Corporate Political Spending Disclosure
Covington today released a client advisory providing best practices to assist in-house counsel of publicly-traded companies in responding to corporate political disclosure initiatives. These initiatives aim to force companies to post to their websites more information regarding corporate political activities, such as details regarding corporate contributions to trade associations and…
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In Chevron Case, FEC Brings Clarity to the Federal Contractor Ban and Super PACs
The rules on corporate contributions to Super PACs were made clearer today when the Federal Election Commission (FEC) released its finding that Chevron Corporation’s $2.5 million contribution in 2012 to the Congressional Leadership Fund (a Super PAC) had not violated the bar on government contractors making contributions in federal elections.
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Both Sides of the Political Disclosure Divide Likely to Latch onto McCutcheon Decision
By Zachary G. Parks on
Despite the heated rhetoric surrounding today’s McCutcheon decision, it should be remembered that the aggregate contribution limits the Court struck down today have played only a minor role in recent controversies surrounding campaign finance regulation. In recent years, debates surrounding the disclosure of political spending have instead taken center stage. …
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