Is John McCain trying to make headway with the activist investor community? Activists have been among have been among the vocal critics of lavish executive pay packages at public companies, and most of the biggest names among the activists favor Democrats in this election. (Carl Icahn, who said Barack Obama would be a terrible president, is an exception.)
Today John McCain is speaking to a small business conference on economic issues. He is expected to hit the usual Republican notes, calling for lower corporate taxes and opposing hiking capital gains taxes. But he's also going to take a shot at "excessive" corporate pay and severance packages.
"Americans are right to be offended when the extravagant salaries and severance deals of CEOs ... bear no relation to the success of the company or the wishes of shareholders," his prepared remarks released in advance of the speech say.
It's not just talk. He's going so far as to endorse the hardest versions of the "say on pay" proposals that would require shareholder approval of a CEO's pay.
"If I am elected president, I intend to see that wrongdoing of this kind is called to account by federal prosecutors. And under my reforms, all aspects of a CEO's pay, including any severance arrangements, must be approved by shareholders," he will say.
McCain wants low corporate taxes, regulated CEO pay [Reuters]
Posted by Johnny , Jun 10, 2008 1:44PM
Is this nugget supposed to break your republican crowd to swing to Obama? I know this is going to come as a big shocker, but I'm not a CEO (GASP!). So what....
Posted by guest , Jun 10, 2008 1:45PM
huzzah for more personal liability and less pay as a public company exec! we need more little old ladies at shareholder meetings who have more cats than shares! seriously, way to drive top calibre people out of listed companies - now you can match up to government entities.
Posted by guest , Jun 10, 2008 2:07PM
Was there a lack of "top caliber people" before Bill Clinton solved this problem the first time by making executive pay over $1mm non-deductible? Will there be after Washington solves this problem again?
Posted by guest , Jun 10, 2008 4:12PM
@ 2:07
one can not solve a problem more than once. if it is solved "a second time," that implies it was not solved to begin with.
Posted by guest , Jun 10, 2008 4:20PM
Not even the hillbilly vote can save McCain this year. I'm saving my wampum for 2012.
Posted by guest , Jun 10, 2008 5:43PM
@4:12, 2:07 here. Apparently you haven't been paying attention to what's come out of Washington for the past, oh, forever. They can fix anything, at any time, regardless of who last fixed, how long ago it was fixed, or any other factor normally associated with dealing in facts.
Next time I'll end a post like that with "/sarcasm" or some other appropriate indicator of my attitude towards the comments to help you out.
Posted by guest , Jun 10, 2008 6:05PM
@ 2:07
no i got it, i was trying to be an asshole
Posted by guest , Jun 11, 2008 1:03AM
Where in the Constitution does it give the President the power the fix the renumeration of CEOs? Just wondering.