Media Center

Short Hills, NJ: Amid heightened public concern about the influence of big money on elections and decision-making in Congress and state legislatures, Common Cause and the Health Professionals and Allied Employees Union called on Pfizer today to disclose its lobbying activity (including indirect lobbying through trade associations and tax-exempt organizations) and drop its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a controversial state level lobbying organization.

At more than 100 annual meetings this spring, shareholders will ratchet up the pressure on corporations to disclose information about corporate lobbying and electioneering expenditures so investors can make informed investment choices.

Wal-Mart is running an illegal scheme to prod employees into contributing to its political action committee, circumventing a federal law that bars companies from putting corporate funds into political campaigns, Public Citizen, Common Cause and two Wal-Mart employees and shareholders charged today.

Earlier today, representatives of the Corporate Reform Coalition conducted a press conference outside the SEC to urge the agency to move swiftly on a proposed rule requiring corporations to disclose their political spending. A petition requesting this rulemaking was filed in 2011 by a bi-partisan committee of leading law professors. The rulemaking was placed on the agency’s agenda by former SEC Chair Mary Schapiro in 2013, but was removed by Chair Mary Jo White earlier this year, sparking outrage among investors and the public.

NEWARK, Del. – Shareholders, student loan holders and veterans called on student lending giant Sallie Mae on Wednesday to disclose all its lobbying expenditures, both direct and indirect.