Starve The Super PACS!
It’s time to get dirty corporate money out of our elections. Sign the petition to Bank of America supporting a groundbreaking shareholder resolution to stop BoA from buying our elections.
Fueled by Citizens United, the one percent have been working overtime to buy our elections. After the disastrous Supreme Court decision, spending from outside groups has exploded from just $50 million in 2006 to over $275 million in 2010.
We’re not going to take it anymore. We’re working with investors on the inside pushing a groundbreaking resolution to prohibit Bank of America from giving its corporate cash to candidates, campaigns or super PACs.
These shareholder groups need outside voices to prove that the public is sick and tired of the amount of corporate money in politics.
Over the last decade a seismic shift has been taking place. Shareholders have begun to support proposals calling for restrictions on corporate political spending, and dozens of major corporations have acceded to shareholder demands.
Getting corporate money out of politics is going to take a while, and it won’t be easy. Corporations have fought tooth and nail against any attempt by shareholders — or the government — to rein in abuses of power. But this Bank of America resolution is groundbreaking — it’s the first time that shareholders have called on a company to stop all election spending.
A resolution like this is often run several years in a row before it’s adopted. This first step is a shot across the bow to major shareholders that the time to adopt such a policy has arrived. Bank of America is urging its shareholders to vote against this proposal, and this time around most of Wall Street will likely follow its advice. But change is in the air, and if this resolution gets even just 5% or 10% of the vote this year, it would set a major precedent for future resolutions at Bank of America and other companies.
Together, we can work to reverse the damages caused by an out-of-touch Supreme Court and out-of-control corporations. Let’s make history.
-Taren, Claiborne and the rest of us
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Further Reading:
“Prohibit Political Spending From Corporate Treasury Funds” – Bank of America shareholder resolution (2012)
“Proposals aim to curb political donations” – The Star Tribune, January 2012
