Sunday, January 19, 2014

Another appeal to State Attorneys General

From: RDShatt@aol.com
To: jmcpherson@naag.org
CC: constitutentaffairs@ago.state.al.us, KDarcy@theecoa.org, pat@ethics.org, roy.snell@corporatecompliance.org, inboardroom@nacdonline.org, fja@federaljudgesassoc.org, peter.koelling@americanbar.org, aja@ncsc.dni.us, feedback@naag.org
Sent: 1/19/2014 9:27:00 A.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Another appeal to State Attorneys General

Dear Honorable State Attorneys General (c/o Mr. Jim McPherson, NAAG Executive Director)

I am sending this email in a continuation of my efforts to influence those who play significant roles in society's efforts to lessen corporate wrongdoing. Those who are copied on this email include the Alabama Attorney General's office, the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association, the Ethics Resource Center, the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, and the National Association of Corporate Directors (which is conducting this Leading The Way national initiative to restore public and investor confidence).

From my perspective, notwithstanding that there is a common goal to lessen corporate wrongdoing, it appears there is a lot of stovepiping that goes on and a slowness to consolidate a moral force.

As an example, the corporate ethics and compliance community has been importuning Federal regulators in a way that I believe is narrowly focused on pet ideas of the former. For elaboration of this, see this entry in my blog.

The corporate ethics and compliance community could make a similar importuning of State Attorneys General. Perhaps that has happened. I think it would be instructive to my point if State Attorneys General considered what they would think about such an importuning by the corporate ethics and compliance community.

Last November I contacted the National Association of Corporate Directors, related to their Leading The Way initiative, and tried to point out the foregoing believed deficiency in how the ethics and compliance community was carrying out its mission. This was intended, among other things, to instigate interchange between the National Association of Corporate Directors and the corporate ethics and compliance community (which serves under corporate directors). I am not aware that any interchange has taken place.

State attorneys general have their own limitations in consolidating a moral force. These include the ongoing turf battle that state attorneys general have with the Federal enforcement and regulatory community, and also the political needs of state attorneys general to have big, publicized cases against corporations (which I contend do not have the best effect for deterring corporate wrongdoing).

Judges are hard to communicate with about lessening corporate wrongdoing, but I try. See, e.g., blog entries that are collected here and efforts I have made to intervene in legal cases such as two large class actions cases against Citigroup and Bank of America a year ago (relevant blog entries collected here).

If all else fails, it is up to Congress and state legislatures to address how society should best try to deter corporate wrongdoing.

I am a mere citizen in trying to persuade those parties with the power and position to respond to my contentions, and I have only my blog and email for doing this. I hope I will be successful eventually.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
Robert Shattuck
Birmingham, AL