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Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr., today announced that Cigna Corporation has agreed to a proposal by the New York City Pension Funds to disclose its policies and procedures for all political contributions using corporate monies.

“Cigna has agreed that it makes good corporate sense to provide complete disclosure of its political expenditures to fully evaluate the political use of its corporate assets,” Thompson said. “I am hopeful that other companies will follow Cigna’s lead and provide their shareholders full and transparent disclosure of all political contributions.”
“Disclosure is needed to ensure that corporate assets are not used to finance the political interests of individual executives and directors, or objectives that are detrimental to the interests of companies and their shareholders,” he added.

Cigna, which is based in Philadelphia, PA, notified the Comptroller’s office that it will now report on CIGNA’s Political Action Contribution Criteria, identify members of its’ PAC Board of Directors, disclose its Political Contributions policy, and detail its 2006 federal and state contributions by amount and recipient.

That information will be made available by the end of March, Cigna indicated. The Pension Funds have 339,174 shares valued at $52,519,323 in Cigna.
The Comptroller subsequently withdrew the City’s shareholder resolution, which was filed in December on behalf of the New York City Employees’ Retirement System (NYCERS), Teachers' Retirement System for the City of New York (TRS), New York City Police Pension Fund, New York City Fire Department Pension Fund and the New York City Board of Education Retirement System (BERS).

In December, Thompson announced similar resolutions filed with 10 other companies: Entergy Corporation of New Orleans, LA; Lyondell Chemical Company of Houston, TX; Limited Brands, Inc. of Columbus, OH; EMC Corporation of Hopkinton, MA; Charles Schwab Corporation of San Francisco, CA; Halliburton of Houston, TX; and, Lockheed Martin Corporation of Bethesda, MD. Measures were resubmitted with: Chevron Corporation of San Ramon, CA, Union Pacific Corporation of Omaha, NE, and Wal-Mart Stores of Bentonville, AR.

The Pension Funds request that companies disclose political contributions and expenditures made with corporate funds, directly and indirectly, to political candidates, parties, committees, and other entities organized and operating under 26 USC Section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code. If the measures are adopted, companies are asked to prepare reports that include: the accounting of each company’s funds used for political contributions; the identification of the person(s) who made the political contributions; and, a copy of the company’s internal guidelines governing political contributions. Reports would be presented to Board of Directors Audit Committees and posted online.

Besides Thompson, the Pension Funds’ trustees are:

Fire Department Pension Fund: Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York City Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta (Chair); New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; Stephen Cassidy, President, James Slevin, Vice President, Robert Straub, Treasurer, and John Kelly, Brooklyn Representative and Chair, Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York; Peter Gorman, President and Captains’ Rep., Nicholas J. Visconti, Chiefs’ Rep., and Stephen J. Carbone, Lieutenants’ Rep., Uniformed Fire Officers Association; and, Joseph Gagliardi, Marine Engineers Association.

Police Pension Fund: Mayor Michael Bloomberg; New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark; New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly (Chair); Patrick Lynch, Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association; Michael Palladino, Detectives Endowment Association; Edward Mullins, Sergeants Benevolent Association; Anthony Garvey, Lieutenants Benevolent Association; and, John Driscoll, Captains Endowment Association.

NYCERS: New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark (Chair); New York City Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum; Borough Presidents Scott Stringer (Manhattan), Helen Marshall (Queens), Marty Markowitz (Brooklyn), Adolfo Carrion (Bronx), and James Molinaro (Staten Island); Lillian Roberts, Executive Director, District Council 37, AFSCME; Roger Toussaint, President Transport Workers Union Local 100; and, Carroll (Carl) Haynes, President, International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 237.

TRS: New York City Finance Commissioner Martha E. Stark (Chair); Deputy Chancellor Kathleen Grimm, New York City Department of Education; and, Sandra March, Melvyn Aaronson and Mona Romain, all of the United Federation of Teachers.

BERS: mayoral appointees Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, Alan Aviles, Philip Berry, David Chang, Tino Hernandez, Augusta Souza Kappner, Richard Menschel and Marita Regan; Borough President appointees Jesse Mojica (Bronx), Martine G. Guerrier (Brooklyn), Vivian Farmery (Manhattan), Michael Flowers (Queens), and Joan Correale (Staten Island); and employee members Thomas J. Malanga of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 891, and Milagros Rodriguez of District Council 37, Local 372.

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