Center for Political Accountability introduces Guide to Model Code

As described in the Guide, while the Model Code is based in part on the CPA-Zicklin Index, it “goes beyond the disclosure and accountability policies in the Index to require companies to know and publicly disclose where their contributions ultimately end up and consider broader factors of societal interests and democracy in company political spending decisions.” The emphasis is on proactively mana. [...] In that context, the CPA has a number of suggestions, including articulating the company’s core values and the core positions and policies that emanate from those values, establishing a process to assess the possible consequences of a political contribution if the recipient’s actions might conflict with the company’s espoused values, and ensuring that this analysis is conducted at the appropriate. [...] In particular, the CPA advises that companies require third-party organizations to which the company plans to direct contributions to provide a report that identifies the candidates and issues that the funds will be used to support. [...] The CPA suggests that companies contribute “only to outside organizations that publicly disclose the candidates and issues that the organization supports and the reasons for that support.” In addition, the CPA contends that commitment to the Model Code “publicly demonstrates to stakeholders a company’s dedication to being a leading corporate citizen.” Companies can be recognized as Model Code comp. [...] • Disclosure that the company annually reviews the candidates and political organizations that its contributions directly or indirectly support to ensure that the positions held by those candidates do not conflict with the company’s core values and policies.” The Guide observes that some companies implement the Model Code’s third-party disclosure requirement by posting on their websites the 990 ta.