Yesterday, the Center for Political Accountability released its study of corporate political spending for the largest U.S. companies. It finds that voluntary disclosure of political spending is becoming a mainstream corporate practice.
Answer: No, Tellabs does not make political contributions. Never has. Tellabs believes that directing our resources to core business activities best serves our stakeholders.
And, while we’re on the subject, Tellabs has never had a Political Action Committee. We don’t directly lobby, but we are a member of industry organizations that do.
In 2009 Tellabs formalized its long-standing practices with a political spending policy. Earlier this month we released the policy on our website.
Because, when it comes to corporate political spending, more and more people want to know who, what, when, where and why.
Growing call for transparency
Transparency on corporate political contributions became a hot topic following the U.S. Supreme Court case, Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. This controversial ruling in January 2010 gave companies and unions more freedom to influence election campaigns.
Tellabs has no political contributions to disclose. If that ever changes, we’ve pledged to make such contributions public information. You can read more details in our political spending policy.
Companies have different approaches to engaging in politics. Transparency needs to be part of that approach.
This post also appeared today on Tellabs blog.
Meredith Hilt's Blog 
donordreams
October 28, 2011
Interesting stuff, Meredith! I’ve been following the Colbert Super PAC stuff closely because it is Colbert’s snarky commentary on Citizens United. While following that story, he revealed how 501c4 orgs are used to launder money and cast a veil of secrecy over political contributions. I came to the realization that I once sat on a 501c4 board of directors. It was a “State Alliance” for Boys & Girls Clubs, and the purpose of that org was very different than how political operatives use their 501c4’s. What got me thinking about this was your comment about how Tellabs belongs to and supports “industry organizations”. So, my thought here is that you may indeed be indirectly supporting some questionable political activity. I trust you or someone at Tellabsis actively involved in that membership organizations(s) for your industry and know EVERYTHING they are doing. Otherwise, it becomes a cleaver way for your company to use campaign finance laws to hide from your stakeholders.
I love your conclusions about transparency and sunlight being the only solution to these kind of questions. Thanks for the mental material to chew on today! Have a great weekend.
meredithdhilt
October 28, 2011
Thanks for your comments, Erik.
To be clear, Tellabs’ primary industry association relationship is with TechAmerica. (It’s a 501c6) Employees are actively involved here.
Tellabs’ main reason to be a member at TechAmerica are the relationships we build with customers, peers and suppliers. We rely on TechAmerica for market updates and to benchmark industry practices.
TechAmerica also lobbies for legislation that will benefit our industry. We are aware that it does so, and in the interest of full disclosure, we mention it in our political spending policy. However, it is not Tellabs main reason for participating in the group.
Again, thanks for commenting. Glad you liked the post, and I hope you have a great weekend, too.
meredithdhilt
November 10, 2011
Today Si2 and IRRC Institute released a new report on political spending in the S&P 500.
Tellabs is one of 17 companies that have a ‘no spending’ policy and did not spend any money in 2010.
You can see the report here: http://www.irrcinstitute.org/pdf/Political_Spending_Report_Nov_10_2011.pdf