Immediately following the Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United in January 2010, New York City Public Advocate Bill de Blasio launched a campaign calling for institutional investors nationwide to demand that public corporations disclose their campaign spending to shareholders.
As a trustee for the New York City Employees' Retirement System (NYCERS) which manages more than $40 billion in assets on behalf of over 300,000 member beneficiaries, the Public Advocate has a responsibility to ensure that the pension fund’s investments are not being compromised by excessive political spending.
Over the past year, Public Advocate de Blasio has used public actions and negotiations to persuade companies such as Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley to adopt policies against spending treasury dollars in elections.
