In a front-page article (pay wall) published on Friday, May 13 by USA Today, reporter Jessica Guynn writes about conservative groups increasing their involvement at annual shareholder meetings for major U.S. corporations.
Guynn highlights National Legal and Policy Center’s participation and presentations at several such meetings this spring. Excerpts from her article:
At the Wells Fargo annual meeting in April, a conservative activist presented a shareholder proposal that would force the bank to disclose more information about its charitable giving and warned company leaders against engaging in the kind of LGBTQ advocacy that prompted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to repeal Walt Disney’s special tax privileges just days earlier.
“Instead of funding this sort of extremism, Wells Fargo needs to take a hard look at the fix that Disney finds itself in,” Paul Chesser (pictured above), director of the National Legal and Policy Center’s Corporate Integrity Project, said during his remarks.
Wells Fargo shareholders rejected the measure by a wide margin but that has not stopped conservative activists.
Two groups, the National Legal and Policy Center and National Center for Public Policy Research, are making regular appearances this proxy season, the time of year between April and June when most large publicly traded companies host their annual meetings…
Six years ago, North Carolina bowed to pressure from companies like PayPal which canceled expansions in the state over a new law requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms that correspond with the gender identity on their birth certificate.
No more, says the National Legal and Policy Center’s Chesser…
Instead, conservatives are targeting corporations that have become more vocal on social, environmental and governance issues, commonly known as ESG, and they are refusing to cede ground, particularly as midterm elections approach…
“Conservative-leaning groups are more emboldened now to push back,” Chesser said. “Our view is that it’s overdue.”…
Read the full article (pay wall) at USA Today.
