As if general counsel weren’t worrying enough already about whistleblowers, a group called Americans United for Change on Monday added a new concern: blowing the whistle, to the tune of $25,000, on secret corporate contributions that aim to influence the 2012 U.S. elections.
The group announced that it would offer a $25K reward to the first employee who documented that his or her employer was using corporate funds to secretly contribute to Super PACs or nonprofit organizations that buy ads to affect the election, but that are not required to disclose their donors.
“This reward is intended to make CEOs think again if they believe they can keep corporate donations to politics secret,” Tom McMahon, AUC’s executive director, said in a statement. “In a digital age it is virtually impossible today for a big corporation to be certain that a donation of this type will not become public and materially damage its brand and the loyalty of its customers. Fair warning, Corporate America.”
The whistleblower bounty is part of a national campaign by a large coalition of activist groups to target corporations that secretly use company funds to support candidates or issues. The coalition includes Common Cause, Coalition for Accountability in Political Spending, Service Employees International Union, MoveOn.org, Americans United for Change, Public Citizen, Public Interest Research Group, Public Campaign Action Fund, Campaign for America’s Future, National People’s Action, Progress NOW, Every Child Matters, Health Care for America Now, Occupy Wall Street, and USAction.
Bill de Blasio, a New York City public advocate, said at a joint press conference that the coalition is putting every corporate executive in America on notice: “If you choose to use corporate treasury funds to make donations to [non-disclosing] organizations that are attempting to influence the upcoming election, you should inform your board that you will be subjecting your firm to substantial potential economic risk.”
He said the coalition members could employ a variety of tactics that include:
- Running campaigns to move pension fund money from a company’s stock.
- Filing shareholder lawsuits.
- Pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission to pass a rule requiring public companies to make public any contributions for political purposes.
- Working with institutional shareholders to file resolutions asking the corporations to stop political spending.
- Urging all corporations to pledge not to spend corporate funds on politics.
- Seeking new state and federal laws requiring companies to disclose all political giving.
- Planning actions, such as public demonstrations, at shareholder meetings of major corporations.
- Organizing consumer boycotts of those companies that resist transparency.
De Blasio said, “We will choose among any of the corporations who make the mistake of deciding to give [to non-disclosing groups] using its corporate funds—and select several of the most vulnerable to make them an example for the corporate community as a whole.”
And his Dirty Harry bottom line: “If you want to make your company a potential target for this campaign, go ahead, make our day.”
See also: “More Shareholders Demanding Corporate Political Transparency,” CorpCounsel, March 2012.
