Contact: Jack Ucciferri – 707.252.6166
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2008
Napa, California
As Corporate Scandals Mount, Harrington Investments Advocates for Director Accountability in 2008
Napa, California - Harrington Investments, Inc., (HII) a socially responsible investment advisory firm, announced an ambitious shareholder advocacy agenda for 2008. Of the ten Harrington proposals that will appear on corporate proxy ballots this year, nearly all of them are binding bylaw resolutions.
"This novel approach to shareholder advocacy is based on a factually self-evident but generally ignored reality - namely, that in a society which respects the rights of private property, ownership should not be separated from control. It is the right and responsibility of shareowners to ensure that corporate directors, as the representatives of shareowner interests, are held accountable for corporate behavior," explained John Harrington, CEO of Harrington Investments.
These bylaw resolutions are intended to change corporate behavior by calling for greater director fiduciary oversight of environmental, social, and governance issues.
While binding bylaw resolutions are still a relatively untested approach, corporate secretaries, proxy advisory firms, and shareholders of all types are increasingly recognizing the value of this type of active ownership.
"We believe that bylaw resolutions will be increasingly relied upon to responsibly advocate for better overall corporate performance - including environmental, social, and financial", continued Harrington.
Specific governance reforms that were proposed by HII this year include implementation of board committees on human rights, board committees on sustainability, and a majority voting standard for director elections. In addition, for example, Harrington Investments sought to limit protection of Monsanto directors who violate their fiduciary duty in cases resulting in harm to the natural environment, public health, or human rights.
With the notable exception of Starbucks - which implemented a majority vote standard following a period of dialogue - the targeted corporations were generally resistant to allowing such proposals on their proxy statements.
"The changes we are advocating actually mean something! Unlike most shareholder resolutions, which are advisory, these bylaw amendments proposals actually address core issues such as global warming, environmental degradation, and human rights abuses," concluded Harrington.
Shareholder Proposals for the 2008 proxy season include:
- Board Sustainability Committee: Apple, Intel, Kimberly Clark
- Board Committee on Human Rights: Coke, Hershey, Google, Wal-Mart, Yahoo!, Bank of America, IBM
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