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Government Businesses

Comcast Does So Much Lobbying That It Says Disclosing It All Is Too Hard (arstechnica.com) 79

Posted by BeauHD from the chamber-of-secrets dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Comcast may be harming its reputation by failing to reveal all of its lobbying activities, including its involvement in trade associations and lobbying at the state level, a group of shareholders says in a proposal that asks for more lobbying disclosures. Comcast's disclosures for its lobbying of state governments "are often cursory or non-existent," and Comcast's failure to disclose its involvement in trade associations means that "investors have neither an accurate picture of the company's total lobbying expenditures nor an understanding of its priorities, interests, or potential risks from memberships," the proposal said. "Comcast's lack of transparency around its lobbying poses risks to its already troubled reputation, which is concerning in a highly regulated industry, especially given the rise of public Internet alternatives."

The proposal is on the ballot for Comcast's June 5 annual shareholder meeting and was filed by Friends Fiduciary, which "invest[s] based on Quaker values" and says it "actively screen[s] companies for social responsibility." Friends Fiduciary and other investors who joined the proposal collectively hold "over 1 million shares of Comcast stock," they said. The shareholder resolution would be non-binding even if it passed. It asks for an annual report disclosing, among other things, "Payments by Comcast used for (a) direct or indirect lobbying or (b) grassroots lobbying communications" and information on "Comcast's membership in and payments to any tax-exempt organization that writes and endorses model legislation." Comcast's board unanimously recommended that shareholders vote against the Friends Fiduciary resolution, saying that Comcast "already disclose[s] most of our government lobbying interactions" as required by law. "[O]ur Board believes that the requirements in this proposal are burdensome and an unproductive use of our resources and are not in the best interests of our shareholders," Comcast said in a rebuttal included in its proxy statement.
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Comcast Does So Much Lobbying That It Says Disclosing It All Is Too Hard More

Comcast Does So Much Lobbying That It Says Disclosing It All Is Too Hard

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  • Sure (Score:5, Funny)

    by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Thursday May 23, 2019 @05:22PM (#58644524) Journal
    This will be the final nail in the coffin of Comcast's sterling reputation.

  • to get the best lobbyist an industry has ever had in office? Ajit Pai https://www.fcc.gov/about/lead... [fcc.gov]

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Nothing. Mitch McConnell is a sellout who would trade America for a buffalo turd.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mentil ( 1748130 )

      Tom Wheeler and Ajit Pai continue the tradition of having rounded surnames which reflect the nature of the revolving door they partake in.

  • Easy solution (Score:3)

    by rsilvergun ( 571051 ) on Thursday May 23, 2019 @05:23PM (#58644536)
    no more lobbying. Stop voting for anyone who takes their money [cbsnews.com]. Make it a death mark. Hell, make taking corporate money in general the end of your political career. It's not even that hard [opensecrets.org] to know who's taking money.

    And remember kiddos, you can't serve two masters!
    • Quit allowing government to be so powerful as to grant corporations all of these benefits and they won't waste time or money trying to get them. Trying to fight the symptoms instead of the underlying cause is an exercise in futility.
      • nature abhors a vacuum. If you don't build large central power structures than the ruling elites will. They will pass down wealth and advantages to their sons and daughters who will use that to consolidate wealth into power and form oligarchies. Heck, they don't even have to wait for generations. Every 10 years like clockwork the economy's collapsed as far back as I remember. Every time it does the elites can quickly buy up property at rock bottom prices from the middle class since the elite have money and

      • Re:Easy solution (Score:4, Insightful)

        by dryeo ( 100693 ) on Thursday May 23, 2019 @08:25PM (#58645266)

        How do you stop the rich from buying a more powerful government?
        You seem to be confusing cause and effect, the rich want a powerful government to tilt the table as it is cheaper then actually competing. Capitalism in action

    • no more lobbying. Stop voting for anyone who takes their money [cbsnews.com]. Make it a death mark. Hell, make taking corporate money in general the end of your political career. It's not even that hard [opensecrets.org] to know who's taking money. And remember kiddos, you can't serve two masters!

      Comcast sucks.

      That said, the people who own and work for it have every bit as much right to petition the government for redress as anyone else does. (Or that was the idea some boring old white guys had over a couple centuries ago, anyway.)

      • No one is trying to prevent Comcrap's employees from petitioning the government. The idea is to prevent the "corporate person" from doling out lawful-bribes to government officials.

  • Sure Thing (Score:5, Funny)

    by mentil ( 1748130 ) on Thursday May 23, 2019 @05:34PM (#58644598)

    Comcast may be harming its reputation

    A ha ha ha ha!

    is concerning in a highly regulated industry

    Oh wait, you're serious. Let me laugh even harder.
    A ha! A ha! A fucking ha ha ha!

  • Spectrum has been advertising heavily (Score:3)

    by Snotnose ( 212196 ) on Thursday May 23, 2019 @05:41PM (#58644616)
    Looked into it, Spectrum is Comcast. First heard of Comcast in the 80s, when they were on the right coast and I'm on the left coast. All I heard about Comcast was how bad they were, and if possible never deal with them.

    30 years later I can actually interact with Comcast. Yeah, no. I'm not signing up for any company that has been in the top 3 "most hated companies" for 30-40 years, especially when the hate hit me 30 years before they could access my credit card.

  • The public perception is that Comcast barely even has a reputation that can be further harmed.

    That said... I use them for network access. And that's working pretty darned well with only one brief outage since switching to them last year. My opinion could easily change if I ever had an urge to start watching cable TV agani---which is unlikely since we stopped subscribing to cable TV in the early '90s and seem to have survived quite nicely without it.

    • I use them for network access. And that's working pretty darned well with only one brief outage since switching to them last year. My opinion could easily change if I ever had an urge to start watching cable TV agani

      It's only been a year. They have yet to begin boiling the frog. First there will be a $1 fee for Network Sustainment. There will be a $1.35 fee for Municipal Taxes. Then there will be a $2.50/month Infrastructure Maintenance Fee. Then they will auto-subscribe you to a cable package you didn't ask for, lie when you say you didn't ask for it, and try to charge you a cancellation fee. It's Comcast. They work hard at being the most hated utility on the continent.

  • Splatter (Score:3)

    by PopeRatzo ( 965947 ) on Thursday May 23, 2019 @05:53PM (#58644668) Journal

    Comcast may be harming its reputation by failing to reveal all of its lobbying activities

    If Comcast had a reputation to be harmed, they might not need to spend all that lobbying money.

  • Harder than going to jail (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Seems to me simple accounting, every corporate transaction goes in the ledger, just needs a little mark, "this was lobbying". Then push the button. Automated accounting is pretty efficient these days.
    Saying "it is too hard" is not an excuse.

    • Seems to me simple accounting, every corporate transaction goes in the ledger, just needs a little mark, "this was lobbying".

      You would think it should be that easy, until you actually have to determine what is lobbying and what isn't. Is a membership fee to a trade organization "lobbying"? Only part of the TA activity (or even none) might be lobbying. Is the entire cost of a launch party for a new service "lobbying" just because the local politicians are invited, or is it valid marketing?

      This same problem shows up when unions determine how much of their activity is lobbying so that people who want to exempt themselves from polit

  • Flip the switch! (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Facebook activism good!
    Google activism good!
    Bank activism good!
    Comcast activism BAD!

    ALWAYS make sure to flip your opinion switch when the company with the correct agenda appears. Having a consistent opinion for or against corporate intrusion into our democracy is NOT OK.

    • Comcast is an ISP. As a service provider, they are much more dangerous than any content provider that has no power over your internet connection.

    • Comcast can afford to bribe politicians but no shills that know how to write to meet the intended audience?

      C'mon, you can do better. Whataboutism doesn't work here.

  • The way to combat it is to vote out the politicians that are under their influence. The money trail makes it pretty easy to check. And voting records are public, so there is no excuse...

  • That's too bad. (Score:5, Insightful)

    by godel_56 ( 1287256 ) on Thursday May 23, 2019 @08:10PM (#58645210)

    If they can't accurately document their lobbying transactions then they shouldn't be able to claim the expenses as a tax deduction.

  • Comcast's reputation is so bad that nothing could damage it more.

  • why not cut the lobbying and rebuild the plants.
    There HD lineup sucks!

  • Comcast encourages its employees to donate to political causes it supports, and then Comcast will reimburse the employee. In this way, its influence is hidden.

  • We can't track our billing accurately. It is too burdensome. So just pay your bill.

  • Fine of 1.000.000 dollars times prior failures to disclose per failure to disclose.

    Either they learn to track their bribery or they cease to exist due to bankruptcy. Either's fine by me.

  • I thought ALL lobbying activity had to be disclosed, not "most" as in the quote from Comcast. Can anyone verify that? Or does anyone know if there is activity they aren't required to disclose?

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