Campaign Unavailable

Recent corporate scandals, such as corporate spying at Hewlett-Packard and the stock options backdating scandal at UnitedHealth Group, and, more broadly, excessive executive pay highlight the need for strong and independent boards of directors to oversee management and prevent such abuses.

The director election process for U.S. corporations has historically been dominated by management. Shareholders vote only on candidates nominated by the directors themselves, a practice that allows CEOs to handpick their own directors.

In 2006, the federal courts gave all investors a real right to raise issues about director elections through the shareholder proposal process. This process provided shareholders the possibility of nominating their own directors and requiring companies to include these nominees on the company’s proxy ballot (proxy access), potentially ending the self-perpetuating system that permits incumbent boards to handpick director candidates. 
 
Unfortunately, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed rules in July of 2007 that would effectively eliminate these gains. Furthermore, one of the proposed rules raises the question of eliminating the right to file most shareholder proposals entirely. The SEC must prevent this from occurring and protect shareholders’ rights by rejecting these proposed rules.

Use the form on the right to contact the SEC.