Kayla Gillan, top aide to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mary Schapiro, told Harvard’s Pensions and Capital Stewardship Project that Schapiro intends to carry out her ambitious agenda even if two Republican commissioners disagree, reports Global Proxy Watch.
The question facing Schapiro is whether she would be ready to push initiatives through the Commission on 3-to-2 party-line votes rather than water down the measures to win bipartisan consensus. Disagreement is sure to ensue.
Already one has demanded a full board vote on a staff plan to curb broker “ballot stuffing” by ending their ability to vote uninstructed shares in director elections. That reform will not be delayed.
GPW predicts similar clashes on Schapiro’s plan to give shareholders the right to nominate directors on corporate proxies. Gillan said that the “access” directive should be issued in late May for passage by year end.