The Council of Institutional Investors sent out an alert today, which reads in part as follows:
All Council members opposed to the Senate’s proposed 5% ownership requirement for proxy access are strongly encouraged to call and email White House advisor Valerie Jarrett TODAY.
As a senior advisor to President Obama, Jarrett has significant influence over the ongoing House-Senate conference committee negotiations, particularly regarding the proxy access provision of the base text (section 972).To support proxy access, call the White House switchboard at (202) 456-1414 and request to be connected to Valerie Jarrett’s office. If you cannot reach Ms. Jarrett, we encourage you to leave a message expressing your strong opposition to the Senate’s amendment imposing a 5% ownerhsip threshold for shareowner access to the proxy. Tell Jarrett and the White House to support the original language passed by both houses of Congress simply affirming the SEC’s authority to issue a proxy access rule. Be sure to include some brief information about your fund as well as your contact information. You can also send Ms. Jarrett an email at Jarrettpublic@who.eop.gov.
Tell Valerie Jarrett and the Obama administration to publicly oppose the Senate’s proxy access amendment imposing a 5% ownership requirement. Encourage them to call upon House and Senate conferees to reject this harmful change.
According to an earlier report in the Huffington Post (White House Guts Reform To Protect CEO Pay, 6/17/10), Jarrett is the administration’s liaison to the Business Roundtable. Three of their sources said Jarrett was behind the effort to strip any teeth from the proxy access provision; their other two sources were unsure. Please add your voice to those of the Council. The Obama administration needs to know credibility will evaporate if proxy access is gutted, especially at their request.
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