Amongst the complex thicket of state and federal regulations that govern this sphere, “one way for corporations to mitigate the potential risks of political spending and other political activities is to employ strong internal processes and structures at the management level and to consider some degree of oversight at the board level,” according to an advance copy of the report, released yesterday at an event in New York City.
In this area, general counsel are “absolutely critical,” says Bruce Freed, president of the Center for Political Accountability. He is also a member of the advisory group to The Conference Board’s committee on corporate political spending, which produced the report. “[GCs are] the ones who really should have the final review of a company’s political spending decisions—ensuring that it’s complying with the law, and also that the proper risk assessment has been done.”
