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…
Continue Reading Corporate Political Disclosure Fight Shifts to Mutual Funds

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…
Continue Reading New Report Calls Out Corporate Political Disclosure “Basement Dwellers”

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 …
Continue Reading Congressional Spending Bill Shuts Down Key Goals of Campaign Finance Reform Community

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…
Continue Reading New Report Adds Pressure For Public Companies to Voluntarily Disclose Political Spending

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…
Continue Reading CPA-Zicklin Index for 2015 Expected To Rank Entire S&P 500

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…
Continue Reading Covington Releases How-To Guide For Responding To Corporate Political Disclosure Initiatives

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.
Continue Reading In Chevron Case, FEC Brings Clarity to the Federal Contractor Ban and Super PACs

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. …
Continue Reading Both Sides of the Political Disclosure Divide Likely to Latch onto McCutcheon Decision

A coalition of 60 investors, led by the AFSCME Employees Pension Plan and Walden Asset Management, recently announced that they have submitted shareholder proposals seeking additional disclosures regarding political spending and lobbying activities. This announcement reflects a continuing desire among these groups to obtain additional disclosures from public companies regarding…
Continue Reading Activist Investors Announce Submission of Political Spending Shareholder Proposals to 48 Companies

This year has not been a great one for activists seeking to force corporations to increase disclosure of their political activities.  According to the Manhattan Institute’s Center for Legal Policy, average shareholder support for proposals related to political spending or lobbying declined again this year, from 22 percent to 20…
Continue Reading Shareholders Try New Tactic in Corporate Political Disclosure Fight