Earlier this week NLPC’s shareholder report on General Motors, and our call for the company’s board of directors to seek the resignation or removal of Chair/CEO Mary Barra (pictured above), caught the attention of Eric Starkman. Writing for online Motor City news and opinion site Deadline Detroit, the former Detroit News business reporter highlighted our current shareholder activity related to GM, in which we will also present a shareholder proposal requesting a policy to separate the roles of Chair and CEO between two different executives.
Starkman, clearly aware of NLPC’s history of scrutiny and engagement with regard to GM, touched on that background in his column — an excerpt:
The National Legal and Policy Center, a formidable activist group that was instrumental in forcing a major GM recall in 2014, has called for the immediate ouster of Mary Barra as both chair and CEO of General Motors…
The mainstream media will dismiss NLPC as a “conservative” organization because it opposes “progressive” diversity, environmental, and other corporate mandates on the grounds they aren’t in the best interests of shareholders. The organization believes that government is inherently corrupt, and the best way to promote ethics is to reduce the size of government.
In fact, NLPC functions as the sort of corporate watchdog U.S. journalists once envisioned themselves as playing. When it comes to questioning powerful executives or political leaders, NLPC has demonstrated that it will pursue its agenda without fear or favor.
Starkman also mentioned NLPC’s disagreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission‘s decisions to curb shareholder rights related to engagement with companies and submitting proposals for annual meetings:
NLPC’s agenda is at odds with the Trump administration’s efforts to protect companies and their managements. The Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this year said it would oppose the publication of investor-to-investor communications known as exempt solicitations unless they are filed by shareholders who control at least $5 million of that company’s stock.
Politico, one of the few publications to report on the SEC’s restrictive move, described NLPC as “one of the nation’s most prolific filers of shareholder proposals.” Politico noted the SEC’s restrictive policy is opposed by NLPC and left-leaning shareholder activists like As You Sow.
Barra knows NLPC well. In March 2014, NLPC publicly called on Barra to recall more than 382,000 Saturn Ions because of issues with its power steering, questioning her claim that she was committed to safety issues in the wake of GM’s ignition scandal linked to more than 100 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
GM issued the recall three months later, as drumbeats gathered from other sources.
Read the full column from Eric Starkman here.
