Pension Plans Fight for Good Corporate Governance

AFSCME Employees Pension Plan has submitted shareholder proposals to 26 companies to improve corporate governance. Read the entire press release at their site at http://www.afscme.org/press/pr051207.htm The proposals are designed to curb excessive executive pay, election of directors who are not fully supported by shareholders and other issues. Corporate executives beware. The shareholders are starting to think for themselves. The companies are 3M (NYSE:MMM), American Express (NYSE:AXP), American International Group (NYSE:AIG), Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN), Bank of America (NYSE:BAC), Bank of New York (NYSE:BK), Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY), Citigroup (NYSE:C), Countrywide Financial (NYSE:CFC), Emerson Electric (NYSE:EMR), FMC Technologies (NYSE:FTI), Home Depot (NYSE:HD), Honeywell (NYSE:HON), JP Morgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), Mellon Financial (NYSE:MEL), Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER), Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MWD), Qwest (NYSE:Q), Raytheon (NYSE:RTN), SunTrust Banks (NYSE:STI), Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), United Technologies (NYSE:UTX), US Bancorp (NYSE:USB), Wachovia (NYSE:WB), Washington Mutual (NYSE:WM), and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC).

Altera Corporation Dissemination Conflicted

Altera Corporation (Nasdaq:ALTR) appears to be dissemination conflicted. On Nov 28 they announce live investor meetings on Dec 5 and 6 beginning at 3:00 pm and 2:00 pm respectively. The meetings will be live webcast while the market is open and trading. Altera also announces that on Dec 5 after market close they will release additional guidance, which they did. The press release starts of with some guidance and then refers the reader back to the already in progress webcast for additional details. Where does the investor go for the complete picture? Was there any substance to the webcast? If not why have one? Dissemination needs to be co-ordinated and complete. Investors should not be scurrying from one form of media to another especially during live trading. Altera could you please say something about what you were trying to do here?

Time Warner vs Lazard

Strange and Quiet resignations. Robert C Clark resigns from the Lazard Ltd board so that he can stay on the Time Warner board. Lazard has been hired by Icahn to help with their efforts to restructure Time Warner. It took a full week for Mr. Clark to resign from Lazard after the announcement. A full week is much too long for a director to figure out what his responsibilities are. It took a full week to determine where loyalties lay. Just a bit too messy for my taste.