NYC comptroller seeks disclosure on contributions

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By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Top U.S. companies should disclose their political contributions so shareholders can fully evaluate how corporate assets are used, New York City's comptroller, who helps oversee the city's pension funds, said on Tuesday.

Democratic Comptroller William Thompson said he had sent resolutions to 10 companies seeking data on their political contributions. His list included oilfield services company Halliburton Co, broker Charles Schwab Corp and retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

The city's pension funds, which hold about $105 billion in assets, own shares in all 10 of the companies being sent the resolutions.

"Shareholders need full and complete disclosure of companies' political expenditures to fully evaluate the political uses of the corporate assets," Thompson said.

The U.S. government has no guidelines governing the disclosure by corporations of political contributions, Edwin Molina, a Thompson spokesman, said.

Candidates, however, must disclose the source of their contributions to the Federal Election Commission, which publishes the information on its Web site: www.fec.gov.

About half of the states bar corporations from donating money to candidates for state offices.

But no laws prevent companies from donating to U.S. Congressional races, Molina said, adding Thompson wants to close such loopholes.

In the resolution sent to Wal-Mart, Thompson said the information a company makes public often fails to give a "complete picture" of its contributions.

For Wal-Mart, "the company's payments to trade associations used for political activities are undisclosed and unknown," Thompson said, adding that corporate managers often do not know how trade groups spend their money.

Wal-Mart has contributed $5.6 million of corporate funds since the 2002 election cycle, he said, citing information on two Web sites: moneyline.cq.com/pml/home.do and here

Halliburton has given $44,500 -- and possibly more -- since the 2002 election cycle, Thompson said.

He targeted four other companies in the energy sector -- Duke Energy Corp, DTE Energy Co, Devon Energy Corp and Entergy Corp.

His list also included United Technologies Corp, whose products range from Otis elevators to Black Hawk military helicopters; technology services provider Computer Sciences Corp; and Union Pacific Corp, the No. 1 U.S. railroad.