Tell the SEC to Put Shareholders in Charge of Political Decisions – Common Cause

Tell the SEC to Put Shareholders in Charge of Political Decisions – Common Cause.

In America, elected officials are supposed to answer to “we the people.”

But as the 2012 campaign heats up, hundreds of corporations are trying to wrest control of our democracy away from the voters. They’re tapping their corporate treasuries to invest hundreds of millions of dollars — money that belongs to their shareholders — to support some candidates and oppose others. They’re trying to gain the ears, and later the help, of the winning candidates, so that government will serve them and their companies rather than citizens and the public interest.

Citizens can stop this power grab, but we’ve got to get started – now. Through our retirement and investment accounts, millions of us own shares of these corporate political investors. We must use those shares to demand that corporate officers and directors keep corporate money out of our elections.

Common Cause has launched a national campaign on behalf of government of, by and for the people. We are calling on the top 500 publicly traded companies, asking them to pledge to refrain from political spending in 2012 and beyond.