Roughly 86 percent of Google shareholders voted down...
Roughly 86 percent of Google shareholders voted down a resolution to disclose more information about the company’s lobbying efforts, at its annual shareholder meeting Wednesday night. Tim Smith, senior vice president of Walden Asset Management’s Environment, Social and Governance Group,…
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presented the resolution, which was backed by Public Citizen and other public interest groups (http://1.usa.gov/1mS7NcY). Google ranks among the top-five companies in U.S. lobbying efforts, Smith said. It also led all technology companies in Q1 lobbying spending, at $3.82 million. Yet “we don’t hear any detailed information on many of the trade groups and advocacy organizations it’s part of,” Smith said. He pointed to Google’s contributions to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), which has a “very partisan and right-wing conservative agenda” that Smith argued countered Google’s stated mission. Despite the proposal’s demise, Steve Wilke, founder of solar and wind energy developer Delta Engineering, brought the issue up again during Q&A. “With all of the issues we deal with, we work with a lot of groups,” responded Chief Legal Officer David Drummond. Sometimes Google disagrees “vehemently” with positions of groups it helps fund, he said, citing ALEC. Drummond also said the U.S. Chamber’s stance on copyright “clashes with ours.” Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Google has heard shareholders “loud and clear” on the issue this year and at past shareholder meetings. “Let us come back with some ideas,” he said. “The fact that he came out with that,” Wilke said in a conference call after the meeting, “is clearly a step forward."