Two years ago, an idiosyncratic band of 10 law professors wrote to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission asking it to require public companies “to disclose to shareholders the use of corporate resources for political activities.” Their immodest proposal has since become a popular cause: The proposed rule has generated half a million public comments, a record.
More transparency, in both politics and finance, is almost always better. The question sometimes is whether the means justify the end. In this case, they do.