Since 2000, the Charles Koch Foundation has paid hundreds of millions of dollars to US universities in contractual exchanges. Many of these contracts have dictated the establishment or support of a CKF-affiliated center or institute on campus and university employment of CKF-affiliated tenured or tenure-track professors who agree to promote the CKF philosophy of minimal government regulation of business. While many in the academic community are opposed to these contracts because of concerns about academic freedom and the transfer of university (...) decision-making from the campus to the external wealthy, the CKF has successfully forged many such contracts with universities. While most of these contracts are undisclosed, 14 of these contracts were obtained and analyzed to determine what the CKF has been purchasing from these universities. (shrink)

This study investigates the pivotal policy question of whether a firm’s corporate governance influences its political spending disclosures. Using a sample of S&P 500 firms from 2011 to 2019, we find empirical evidence that a board of directors’ monitoring and resource provision roles affect a firm’s political spending disclosure. Extending agency theory-driven expectations, we provide evidence that measures of a board’s monitoring role such as female monitoring directors, shorter board tenure, audit committee size, audit committee meetings, and audit committee education (...) enhance a firm’s political spending disclosures. Second, drawing from resource dependence theory and examining a board’s resource provisions, we find evidence that female advisory directors, CEO duality, additional directorships, and audit committee characteristics (i.e., size, number of meetings, age, and education) promote political spending disclosures. The study contributes to corporate governance and corporate political activity literatures by outlining different types of governance that may drive a firm’s political spending disclosures, a key component of a firm’s political responsibility. (shrink)