December 10, 2023

General Electric Chooses Secrecy over Transparency

April 27, 2017 by 1 Comment

Press Release from the National Center for Public Policy Research:

GE Opposes Proposal Seeking Clarity on Its Controversial Charitable Contributions

Free Enterprise Project Resolution Criticizes GE Donations to Clinton Foundation, Planned Parenthood and Center for American Progress

Asheville, NC / Washington, DC –  At today’s annual meeting of General Electric (GE) investors held in Asheville, North Carolina, the National Center for Public Policy Research presented a shareholder resolution calling on the industrial giant to explain its rationale for donating shareholder money to controversial groups such as Planned Parenthood and the Clinton Foundation.

“Apparently General Electric executives have no explanation for why the company donates its shareholders’ money to controversial charitable organizations. If the company had strong reasons for such donations, and those reasons outweighed the risks of being associated with such shady groups, then the company would have welcomed our resolution and provided a cogent response,” said National Center General Counsel and Free Enterprise Project (FEP) Director Justin Danhof, Esq., who attended today’s meeting and presented FEP’s proposal. “Why would pro-life investors entrust their funds to a company that then turns around and donates to Planned Parenthood? The obvious answer is that they wouldn’t, and that’s likely why GE refused to properly answer our proposal.”

At the meeting, Danhof stated:

[T]he company provided funds to Planned Parenthood. Already the recipient of $500 million taxpayers’ dollars annually, the nation’s largest abortion provider has come under investigation for the sale of fetal tissue. In response, many states and corporations distanced themselves from Planned Parenthood.

The company also donated to the Center for American Progress (CAP).  CAP is an extreme political group accused of anti-Semitism.  Additionally, in 2010, under the direction of John Podesta – who later became chairman of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign – CAP wrote the blueprint for the Obama Administration’s expansion of executive power.  Now, with President Donald Trump in office, GE lodged complaints about the very same use of executive power effectively designed and, by implication, endorsed through the company’s funding of CAP.

The company also donated to the Clinton Foundation, which is reportedly under FBI investigation.  Media reports strongly imply parts of the Clinton Foundation operated as a pay-for-play scheme whereby individuals and corporations may have sought preferential treatment from government actors in exchange for donations to the Foundation.  Such speculation is further fueled by the closing of some of the Clinton Foundation’s operations following Mrs. Clinton’s unsuccessful White House bid.  GE support of the Clinton Foundation has been the subject of such scrutiny and speculation.

Danhof’s full statement, as prepared for delivery, is available here.  The audio of Danhof’s statement during the meeting can be heard here.  The full text of FEP’s proposal and GE’s response to it are available here.  At press time, the final official vote on the proposal was not available.

Investors have a right to expect that GE is using their money to advance initiatives that raise shareholder value. It is hard to see how donating to extremist groups such as the Center for American Progress (CAP) fulfills GE’s legal fiduciary duty to its stockholders,” added Danhof. “We gave GE an opportunity to explain how how donating shareholder money to Planned Parenthood, CAP and the Clinton Foundation somehow fulfills the company’s obligation to its investors, and it balked. Conservative and pro-life investors have a right to know why the company is in league with such detestable groups. And until such a time as GE answers those questions, investors may want to look elsewhere.”

This isn’t the first time FEP has asked GE for transparency regarding its relationship with the Clinton Foundation.

In 2015, out of concern that the company’s donations to the Clinton Foundation – which coincided closely with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s efforts to help secure a foreign contract for GE – may have subjected the company to liability for honest services fraud, the National Center sought an explanation from GE CEO Jeff Immelt regarding those contributions.  Immelt refused FEP’s request for transparency.  That story was widely covered in the national press, including numerous segments on theFox News Channel.

The National Center’s FEP brought similar shareholder proposals before shareholders atApple earlier this year as well as Coca-Cola, John Deere and McDonalds in 2016. It also raised corporate funding and affiliation issues with executives of Aetna, Honeywell, Pfizer and UPS in 2015 and 2016. This is also not the first time the FEP has submitted a shareholder proposal to GE. In 2014, in response to a FEP proposal, GE proactively changed its corporate policy to protect employees from workplace retribution for private political activities. FEP representatives have been attending GE shareholder meetings since 2009.

Launched in 2007, the National Center for Public Policy Research’s Free Enterprise Project is the nation’s preeminent free-market activist group – focusing on shareholder activism and the confluence of big government and big business. Since 2014, National Center representatives have participated in nearly 100 shareholder meetings to advance free-market ideals in the areas of health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, food policies, media bias, gun rights, workers’ rights and many other important public policy issues.   Earlier today, while Danhof was at the General Electric meeting, National Center Vice President David W. Almasi participated in Coca-Cola’s shareholder meeting.

The National Center‘s Free Enterprise Project activism has yielded a tremendous return on investment:

  • FEP‘s highly-publicized questioning of support for the Clinton Foundation by Boeing and General Electric helped trigger an FBI investigation of the Clinton Foundation‘s activities that dominated the 2016 presidential campaign.  
  • FEP inquiries prompted Facebook to address political bias against conservatives in social media.
  •  Company executives acknowledged media bias at ABC News (Disney), the Washington Post and CNN (Time Warner) in response to FEP‘s challenges, which helped to bring about more objective reporting and more balanced political representation.
  • FEP‘s “Employee Conscience Protection Project“ strengthened protections for the political beliefs and activities of over five million workers at 13 major U.S. corporations.
So far in 2017, the FEP has been featured in media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Variety, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Breitbart, WorldNetDaily, Drudge Report, Business Insider, CNET, National Public Radio, American Family Radio and SiriusXM. In 2016, the FEP was also featured in the Washington Times, the Fox News Channel’s “Cavuto,” the Financial Times, Crain’s Chicago Business, the Hollywood Reporter, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Newsmax, the Daily Caller, Lifezette, the Seattle Times, the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribuneamong many others.  The Free Enterprise Project was also featured in Wall Street Journal writer Kimberley Strassel‘s 2016 book The Intimidation Game: How the Left is Silencing Free Speech (Hachette Book Group).


The National Center for Public Policy Research, founded in 1982, is a non-partisan, free-market, independent conservative think-tank.  Ninety-four percent of its support comes from individuals, less than four percent from foundations and less than two percent from corporations.  It receives over 350,000 individual contributions a year from over 96,000 active recent contributors.  Sign up for email updates here.  Follow us on Twitter at @NationalCenter for general announcements.  To be alerted to upcoming media appearances by National Center staff, follow our media appearances Twitter account at @NCPPRMedia.

Share
Filed Under: Politics in General Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Another “Mysterious” Clinton Associated Death: Deja Vu All Over Again

November 18, 2016 by Leave a Comment

*Editor’s Note* – For those with understanding, note that this article states that a person was caught, “attempting to steal and smuggle “33” children…”

“As we know, Hillary has ties to convicted sex offender and child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. In addition, Hillary was involved in the NGO run by Laura Silsby, the former director of the The New Life Children’s Refuge. She was caught attempting to steal and smuggle 33 children from Haiti, most of whom weren’t even orphans at the time:”<<<Read More>>>

Share
Filed Under: As in Days of Noah/Sodom Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Is This Really Analyses From an FBI Person?

September 15, 2016 by Leave a Comment

You’ll have to decide. Two items that jump out at me. One, the information repeated in this video from an “FBI Analyst” comes from postings on a chat forum called 4Chan. I know nothing of the website, but….

Second, the analyst spends a bit too much time stumping for Donald Trump. To him or her, the answer to everything lies in electing Donald Trump.

However, I do understand and have a considerable knowledge about the corruption of the Clinton Foundation and the power they wield in the world. After all, most people do as they are told when their lives are threaten. Many have died bucking the Clintons and their global power brokers.

Share
Filed Under: Politics in General Tagged With: ,

RMEF Project Protects Montana Elk Habitat, Expands Public Access

February 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment

*Editor’s Note* – Perhaps because the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation transferred this land to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks – land that abuts the Federal Government – the feds won’t have to stage a murder and lock innocent people in jail, in order to take the land away from the state when the Feds decide they need it. I also have to wonder if any of this land is rich in minerals, minerals that Hillary Clinton has already given to the Russians in exchange for billions of dollars that will go to the Clinton Foundation.

One DOES have to wonder about such things these days. RMEF should tread lightly, unless, of course, they are in on the conspiracy.

Press Release from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation:

MISSOULA, Mont.—Located in the heart of elk winter range in Montana’s Madison Valley, the Madison-Wall Creek Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is now approximately 10 percent larger thanks to a land transfer from the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP).

“This is a tremendously unique project because we not only protected and conserved important elk habitat but actually improved it after removing a 3,000-square-foot home from the site,” said Blake Henning, RMEF vice president of Lands and Conservation. “This is a classic example of a trophy house in the wrong spot. It was an intrusion on elk winter range but through creativity and partnership, we removed it and left behind open habitat for elk and other wildlife in perpetuity.”

In late 2014, RMEF acquired 631 acres of grassy rangeland 24 miles south of Ennis immediately adjacent to the WMA. The entire southern edge of the property borders the existing WMA while the eastern edge borders Bureau of Land Management land that runs clear to the Madison River.

RMEF recently conveyed the property to FWP.

“This is such an exciting addition to Wall Creek considering everything and everyone that benefit,” said Julie Cunningham, FWP area biologist. “First you have the 2,000 elk that use the WMA as crucial winter range, then the hundreds of mule deer and antelope that migrate through and – of course – the hunters who will now have access to hundreds more acres of huntable public land.”

RMEF oversaw a bidding process in 2015 that led to the removal of the house from the premises. FWP will use the remaining structures for management and administration purposes. The actual home site will be reseeded and a small man-made pond will be reclaimed.

In addition to preventing subdivision, the transaction improves and enhances public access to the now 7,188-acre WMA. It also expands hunting and fishing recreational opportunities, further protects the Madison River watershed, and allows for more elk tolerance by helping to prevent game damage issues.

Share
Filed Under: conservation, Montana Hunting News, National/World Tagged With: , , , , ,

Clinton Foundation took massive payoffs, promised Hammond Ranch and other publicly owned lands to Russians along with one-fifth of our uranium ore

January 26, 2016 by 3 Comments

As it turns out there’s a lot more to the story behind the Malheur Wildlife Refuge–a whole lot more–and this article is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

As you may or may not know, Intellihub reported on Jan. 4, that the Hammond’s ranch and other ranch-lands surrounding the refuge sit atop a vast swath of precious metals, minerals, and uranium that’s heavily desired by not only the federal government, but foreign entities as well.

However, at the time of the article’s publication the federal government’s full motive to seize the land was not yet known other than the fact that these elements do exist in the vicinity and are invaluable.

Now, after further investigation, more pieces of the puzzle have been put in place and you’re not going to believe what characters are involved.

Source: Clinton Foundation took massive payoffs, promised Hammond Ranch and other publicly owned lands to Russians along with one-fifth of our uranium ore |

Share
Filed Under: National/World, Politics in General Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Blog: The Clinton Foundation as a money-laundering scheme

June 9, 2015 by 1 Comment

When you put together all the revelations about the Clinton Foundation and its affiliates that have cascaded our way (and continue to arrive), one explanation makes sense.  It was a money-laundering scheme designed to obtain and camouflage foreign money paid to the Clintons to curry favor, including favorable treatment by Hillary Clinton’s State Department.

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2015/04/the_clinton_foundation_as_a_moneylaundering_scheme.html#ixzz3cYejb2Oy
Follow us: @AmericanThinker on Twitter | AmericanThinker on Facebook

Source: Blog: The Clinton Foundation as a money-laundering scheme

Share
Filed Under: Politics in General Tagged With: , ,

Boeing Refuses to Disclose Any Boeing-State Department-Clinton Foundation Email Correspondence

April 27, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Chairman Tells Shareholder He’s “Comfortable” with Donations to Clinton Foundation That Could Put Boeing at Risk of Honest Services Fraud Charges

Company Offers to Continue Discussion with Free-Market Think-Tank about Increased Transparency Despite Not Releasing E-Mails

Washington, DC – Boeing Chairman and CEO W. James McNerney, Jr. was today asked to make any emails between Boeing and the U.S. State Department during the time State helped Boeing secure a Russian contract and Boeing made a contribution to the Clinton Foundation available for inspection.

The request came from a representative of the National Center for Public Policy Research, Boeing shareholder and National Center Executive Director David Almasi.

Between the shareholder meeting today and last year’s meeting, Boeing went to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to fight a shareholder proposal submitted by the National Center for Public Policy Research on Almasi’s behalf asking the company for more transparency in reporting its methodology for making charitable donations. Boeing was successful in getting the SEC to agree, in January 2015, that it would not require Boeing to place the proposal before shareholders for a vote.

Today the National Center asked McNerney to release any email correspondence Boeing officials had with the U.S. State Department, as the government’s copies of at least some of these emails may have been stored on Secretary Clinton’s private server, and then deleted.

At today’s shareholder meeting, National Center Executive Director David W. Almasi asked:

Although you have succeeded in blocking this shareholder’s request for a report on charitable giving policies, you still have the opportunity to set the record straight that every communication between Boeing and the State Department was above board. Will you release every email and communication that Boeing officials had relating to donations to the Clinton Foundation, and with the State Department?

McNerney claimed the company is “very mindful of interacting in the proper way with any charitable organization – including the Clinton Foundation,” and “we feel comfortable with the donations we made.” Yet he rebuffed Almasi’s request to voluntarily make the emails available, stating the company would do so only “if there is some regulatory or legal proceeding that we’re asked to become part of.”

“Boeing is digging itself deeper into a hole with its stubbornness. Boeing officials may have done nothing wrong, but doubling down on the ambiguity as to why they felt it best to donate to the family-run foundation of a serving public official who had helped them out begs prosecutors to investigate the possibility of honest services fraud,” said Almasi. “And refusing to release emails about it that they must have archived somewhere only heightens suspicion.”

Almasi’s full question, as prepared for delivery, is available here.

After being rebuffed at the 2014 shareholder meeting , when McNerney called Almasi’s request “beyond the pale,” Almasi and the National Center submitted a resolution demanding more transparency in the Boeing charitable-giving processes. It was meant to be included in the company’s 2015 proxy statement and voted on at today’s shareholder meeting, but Boeing fought the resolution and the Obama Administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission allowed Boeing to keep it from being considered over a technicality regarding stock ownership. The resolution, in part, read:

Shareholders request that the Board of Directors consider issuing a semiannual report on the Company website, omitting proprietary information and at reasonable cost, disclosing: the Company’s standards for choosing which organizations receive the Company’s assets in the form of charitable contributions, the business rationale, if any, for such contributions, the intended purpose of each of the charitable contributions and, if appropriate, the benefits to others of the Company’s charitable works.

The full text of the resolution is available here.

Almasi explained: “Such a report would have identified the company’s standards for making charitable donations and shown whether such transactions were indeed ethical and legal. I was very disappointed when Boeing spent shareholder resources to have its lawyers petition the SEC to block its shareholders from voting on this non-binding recommendation to management. It gives the appearance that Boeing has something to hide.”

During the shareholder meeting, Almasi reminded McNerney that there were many charities doing work in Haiti similar to what the Clinton Foundation was doing. McNerney, who earlier said the Boeing board would reexamine all shareholder resolutions after the meeting – regardless of whether they got past the no-action – also pledged to “keep engaging” with the National Center about the organization’s shareholder resolution that they fought.

“While McNerney pledged to continue the discussion with us on the issue of increasing transparency, he maintained that he felt the company did the right thing and has no intention to make any communications between Boeing and the Clintons and the State Department available for general review. This air of mystery is exactly how a prosecution for honest services fraud might begin. As a shareholder, it concerns me that this growing scandal involving the Clintons could someday hurt my investment in Boeing,” said Almasi.

On April 22, Free Enterprise Project Director Justin Danhof likewise asked General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt to release emails between GE and the State Department because the company donated to the Clinton Foundation and Secretary of State Clinton helped GE secure a contract for a power plant in Algeria. Immelt, sounding much like Boeing’s McNerney, replied: “That’s not something we would do.”

Both the National Center for Public Policy Research and David Almasi are Boeing shareholders.

The National Center’s Free Enterprise Project is the nation’s preeminent free-market activist group focusing on corporations. In 2014, Free Enterprise Project representatives participated in 52 shareholder meetings advancing free-market ideals in the areas of health care, energy, taxes, subsidies, regulations, religious freedom, food policies, media bias, gun rights, workers rights and many other important public policy issues.

Today’s appearance at Boeing’s annual meeting of shareholders meeting marked the eleventh shareholder meeting for the National Center in 2015.

The National Center for Public Policy Research was founded in 1982. Sign up for free issue alerts here and go here to make a tax-deductible contribution to help us fight for liberty.

Share
Filed Under: Politics in General Tagged With: , ,

GE’s Donation to Clinton Foundation Raises Potential Honest Services Fraud Questions

April 22, 2015 by Leave a Comment

General Electric’s Jeff Immelt Says GE Will Not Make Public Written Communications with State Department During Period When It Made a Major Donation to the Clinton Foundation and then-Secretary of State Clinton Secured a $1.9 Billion Contract with the Algerian Government

Donation to Clinton Foundation Raises Potential Honest Services Fraud Questions

Oklahoma City, OK/Washington, DC – At today’s annual meeting of General Electric shareholders in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the National Center for Public Policy Research asked the industrial giant about the apparent conflict of interest between its philanthropy and the actions of top government officials, and raised the question of whether GE needlessly exposed itself to potential prosecution for honest services fraud.

The National Center’s Justin Danhof asked GE CEO Jeff Immelt to make public emails and other written communications between the State Department and GE during the period when it made a generous contribution to the Clinton Foundation and the State Department arranged a major contract for GE.

GE CEO Jeff Immelt replied, in part: “That’s not something we would do.”

“There is no evidence that GE did anything wrong – but that’s the point – there is no evidence period,” said Danhof. “When one of the world’s most powerful companies teams with the Secretary of State and the end result is a massive donation going one way and a multi-billion foreign contract coming back the other way, the company’s investors are right to ask questions. Now it is up to the media and Congress to do their part and investigate and use subpoenas if necessary to find the truth.”

“It is disappointing to see Immelt put GE in the same boat as Mrs. Clinton in hiding the company’s communications from public view,” added Danhof. “We even broke from tradition and provided Immelt with our question in advance, which means that Immelt’s choice to keep these communications hidden was a calculated one. That raises the specter of suspicion on GE’s dealings with the Clinton Foundation even more. Presumably if the company has nothing to hide, it wouldn’t hide anything.”

Danhof asked GE CEO Jeff Immelt, in part:

…while Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton lobbied foreign governments on behalf of companies including General Electric at a time when those companies were making donations to the Clinton Foundation. In late 2012, for example, Clinton urged the Algerian government to award a power plant contract to GE. GE contributed to the Clinton Foundation. Then in 2013, Algeria awarded the power plant contract to GE. By donating to the Clinton Foundation while receiving a huge favor from the Secretary of State, did we not expose our company to the risk of being charged with honest services fraud?

Danhof further asked:

Since Mrs. Clinton had control of her business emails during this time and has said she deleted many of them, GE presumably is the only entity with evidence that everything was above board. To prevent the company from being the focus of any media or public investigation, would you consider making public all the Company’s written communications with the State Department during the relevant period?

?An audio recording of the entire exchange is available on YouTube here.

To read Danhof’s full question, as prepared for delivery, click here.

“The company’s actions are really the focus here, not Mrs. Clinton’s,” said Danhof. “Lobbyists have been imprisoned under honest services fraud for far less than the sum that changed hands between GE and the Clinton Foundation. The Wall Street Journal reported that GE donated between $500,000 and $1 million to a health partnership with the Clinton Foundation. Clinton’s subsequent actions helped GE obtain a contract with the Algerian government to supply turbines for six power plants to the tune of $1.9 billion.”

“As I am sure GE’s lawyers are well aware, interpretations and enforcement of honest services fraud are murky at best,” added Danhof. “GE should be able to provide documentation that would prove to even the most skeptical judge or jury that all of its actions with the Clinton Foundation and the State Department do not meet even the most limited definition of honest services fraud.”

“Ideally,” added Danhof, “GE should eliminate the likelihood that it is involved in any embarrassing federal or media investigation, and the damage that would do to investors, by being completely transparent and making all relevant written communications public.”

The National Center’s Free Enterprise Project is the nation’s preeminent free-market activist group focusing on corporations. In 2014, Free Enterprise Project representatives participated in 52 shareholder meetings and today’s General Electric meeting marks the eighth shareholder meeting for the National Center in 2015.

The National Center for Public Policy Research was founded in 1982. Sign up for free issue alerts here and go here to make a tax-deductible contribution to help us fight for liberty.

Share
Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,