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Shareowner Proposal No. 15
Service Employees International Union AFL-CIO, CLC, 1313 L Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005, has notified us that it intends to submit the following proposal at this year’s meeting:
“Resolved, that the shareholders of General Electric Co. (the ‘Company’) hereby request that the Company prepare and submit to the shareholders of the Company a separate report, updated annually, containing the following information:
| a. |
Policies for political contributions made with corporate funds, political action committees sponsored by the Company, and employee political contributions solicited by senior executives of the Company. This shall include, but not be limited to, policies on contributions and donations to federal, state and local political candidates, political parties, political committees and other political entities organized and operating under 26 USC Sec. 527; |
| b. |
An accounting of the Company’s resources, including property and personnel, contributed or donated to any of the persons and organizations described above; |
| c. |
A business rationale for each of the Company’s political contributions or donations; and |
| d. |
Identification of the person or persons in the Company who participated in making the decisions to contribute or donate. |
“Statement of Support: As shareholders, we support policies that apply transparency and accountability to corporate political giving.
“There is currently no single source of information providing comprehensive disclosure to the Company’s shareholders on political contributions made with corporate funds. Without full transparency, we believe Company executives may be able to inappropriately direct corporate resources for political purposes and make decisions unilaterally without a stated business rationale for such donations.
“The result is that shareholders are unaware of how and why the Company chooses to make corporate contributions and the political ends being furthered by the gift of corporate funds. Company officials may, in fact, be funding groups and candidates whose agendas are not in the best interest of the Company and its shareholders.
“According to the Center for Responsive Politics, a leading campaign finance watchdog organization, our Company contributed $700,000 to major party committees and political dinners in the 2002 election cycle. However, shareholders do not know whether that is the full extent of the utilization of our Company’s resources for political purposes.
“In our view absent a system of accountability, corporate executives will be free to use the Company’s assets in ways that could pose reputational and legal risks for the company.
“For these reasons, we urge a vote FOR this resolution.”
Our board of directors recommends a vote against this proposal.
We believe it is in the best interests of the shareowners for the company to support the electoral process by making prudent political contributions when such contributions are permitted by federal, state and local laws either by company contributions to state and local candidates and political organizations or by employee contributions through political action committees. GE is fully committed to complying with campaign finance laws, including the laws requiring public disclosure of political contributions and lobbying expenses. Because GE is committed to complying with applicable campaign finance laws, including all reporting requirements, we do not believe the report requested in this proposal is necessary and therefore we recommend a vote against the proposal.
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