Shareholders Pushed Fluor Corp. to Reveal Its Political Spending, and Here’s What the New Report Shows

Fluor Corp., a major global engineering company based in Irving, spent almost $280,000 on political contributions last fall. For a company with over $19 billion in annual revenue, that’s hardly a startling number.What is significant is the disclosure itself. Fluor reported the contributions -- to candidates, state referendums and campaign committees -- in a new formal report on corporate political activity.Fluor adopted the policy on political spending last year, after a majority of shareholders approved a resolution calling for regular disclosure of its political spending. Activists have been pushing such transparency for years, and the number spiked after the 2010 Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court.But the shareholder victory at Fluor is rare indeed.Since 2006, there have been 455 politics-related proposals on proxy ballots, according to a database of the largest public companies compiled by Proxy Monitor. Fluor’s is the first one in that group to overcome board opposition and win, said James Copland, who tracks the trends.  Continue reading...