The Corporate Monitoring Newsletter

Issue #9 - November 2000

Written by Mark Latham

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Auditor Independence by Shareowner Vote

2. Shareowner Proposal Campaign 2000-2001

3. Corporate Monitoring in Business Week

4. Voting System Reform:
Today Corporations, Tomorrow the U.S. Presidency!
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1. AUDITOR INDEPENDENCE BY SHAREOWNER VOTE

New proposal: shareowners should vote to choose the company’s
auditor, instead of just rubber-stamping management’s choice.
This would resolve the current controversy between the SEC
and several big accounting firms. The SEC argues that
auditors may lack independence if they also consult for the
same client company.

I plan to submit this shareowner proposal soon:
http://www.corpmon.com/AudInd-SBLU.htm

The SEC plans to decide this issue on November 15. I sent
them this comment on November 2:
http://www.sec.gov/rules/proposed/s71300/latham1.txt
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2. SHAREOWNER PROPOSAL CAMPAIGN 2000-2001

We are submitting our Shareowners’ Alternative Voting
Information (SAVI) proposal to three companies so far this
year: Gillette, Kaufman & Broad Home, and Equus II.
This would make independent proxy voting advice available to
all shareowners. Details are on our home page at
http://www.corpmon.com
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3. CORPORATE MONITORING IN BUSINESS WEEK

"Too Much Corporate Power?" was Business Week’s cover story
for September 11. Three weeks later, they published my
letter on how informed shareowner voting can influence and
legitimize corporate power (October 2, page 19):
http://www.businessweek.com:80/2000/00_40/c3701048.htm
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4. VOTING SYSTEM REFORM

"If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it." Well, it just broke!

The U.S. presidential election has made us all painfully
aware of the importance of voting system design. See how the
problems and solutions for political voting resemble those
for the shareowner voting systems proposed by the Corporate
Monitoring Project: http://www.corpmon.com/VotingReform.htm

The prophetic letter I sent to Ralph Nader in 1998:
http://www.corpmon.com/NaderLetter.htm

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