The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) has written to members of the Business Roundtable (BRT), calling on them to align their political spending with their stated core values to “mitigate reputational risks and broader risks to democracy”.
In an August 10 press release, the investor coalition revealed that it issued letters to the CEOs of more than 200 U.S. public companies, encouraging them to evaluate their political activities and how they might undermine or reinforce democratic principles.
“Voting rights and the integrity of state voting systems are currently threatened by unrestrained and undisclosed political spending,” ICCR’s letter reads. “It is, therefore, critical that BRT companies put in place mechanisms to align their political spending with their stated core values and with the public interest to mitigate both reputational risks to the company and broader risks to democracy.”
Specifically, BRT companies are asked to draw from the Erb Principles for Corporate Political Responsibility, a non-partisan template designed to complement the BRT’s actions and statement on the Purpose of a Corporation, to reduce business risk.
ICCR also urged issuers to take stock of the CPA-Zicklin Model Code of Conduct for Corporate Political Spending, which provides a framework for companies to “approach and govern their election-related spending.”
Political spending has been an ongoing subject of engagement between investors and issuers, with 54 shareholder proposals on the topic winning 25% average support at U.S.-listed companies so far this year, according to Diligent Market Intelligence’s (DMI) Voting module.