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April 26, 2000
GE Shareholders Want Disclosure on Political Spending
Both inside and outside the annual meeting of General Electric, shareholders and protestors lean
hard on soft money and several other social issues.
SocialFunds.com --
Corporations spent a record $1.42 billion on lobbying U.S. political leaders in 1998, up 13 percent
from the previous year, wielding immeasurable power upon the forces of democracy. Shareholders of
one company, General Electric, are asking for transparency on its lobbying policies and its use of
shareholder funds for political purposes.
 At GE's annual meeting today, in Richmond,
Virginia, shareholders will hear arguments for a laundry list of 11 social or corporate governance
resolutions, nominating the company for the most besieged by shareholder activists. One resolution,
presented by shareholder Judith Barnet, calls on the company to come clean on its political
contributions.
"While GE has done well for me as a shareholder, it has drowned out my
voice as a voter in this democracy," said Barnet, a member of Responsible Wealth, a network of over
450 business leaders concerned about the growing economic inequality in the U.S. "I don't want GE
or other big campaign contributors to set a political agenda that only benefits corporations."
GE contributed $960,000 from its political action committee in federal elections in 1999, and a
whopping $7.28 million in federal lobbying in 1998, according to the Center for Responsive
Politics. Expenditures from corporations like GE supported over 20,000 registered Washington-based
lobbyists in 1998, representing 38 lobbyists for each member of Congress.
Several other
corporations, including General Motors, Monsanto, Honeywell, Ameritech, and Time Warner, have
responded to the public outcry against big money in politics by eliminating their soft money
contributions. Despite being one of the 10 largest funders of the Committee for Economic
Development (CED), a non-partisan group of business leaders which supports the elimination of
unregulated soft money, GE has failed to take a leadership role on this issue.
Barnet's
resolution asks that GE report to shareholders on all their political contributions, including
unregulated soft money contributions and lobbying expenses. It also specifically asks for a summary
of the company's position on campaign finance reform legislation, an increasingly hot topic as
political campaigns for the year 2000 gain steam.
Other shareholder resolutions considered
at GE's meeting today include issues such as adopting international workplace standards, linking
executive compensation to social and financial factors, and considering the social and economic
costs of globalization.
Since 1986, GE's domestic work force has been cut by nearly 50
percent while the number of workers employed abroad has nearly doubled. Meanwhile, in 1999, CEO
Jack Welch earned over $13 million in compensation and stock options, estimated to be more
compensation than that of 15,000 GE factory workers in Mexico combined.
Other resolutions
focus on the more objectionable of GE's products, asking the company to phase out nuclear reactor
production, renounce involvement in landmine production, and report on foreign military sales. GE's
contribution to PCB pollution is highlighted by two proposals, for reporting on costs of PCB
cleanup and adopting a PCB public education program.
Outside GE's annual meeting in
Richmond today, labor and environmental activists demonstrated in support of several shareholder
resolutions calling on GE to become a better corporate citizen in the global economy. But the real
news on how much support these resolutions gain from shareholders will have to wait until the
company makes the results public.
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SRI World Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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