Politics Now

ALBANY - KeyCorp will disclose all its political spending, announced state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, who has been using his power as sole trustee of the giant state and local government pension fund to push companies for greater transparency in their political activities.

The Cleveland-based banking corporation, which has a contract to run the state government's checking account for payroll and vendor payments, made the deal after DiNapoli filed a shareholder resolution to press the disclosure.

The pension fund, working with other major public and private pension systems across the country, has been urging corporations to disclose political activities in the wake of the 2010 Citizens United decision by United States Supreme Court. The KeyCorp decision comes after DiNapoli sued Qualcomm Inc. to try to force it to disclose its political donations.

The New York State and Local Retirement System that DiNapoli runs, the third-largest public system in the nation, has about $150 million in assets and more than one million members, retirees and beneficiaries. The Buffalo News last year reported on DiNapoli’s increasing shareholder activism activities in corporate boardrooms around the world on a host of social and financial matters. DiNapoli on Tuesday said the fund would freeze its holdings in companies that manufacture guns.

“KeyCorp has taken a positive step for transparency and corporate accountability by agreeing to reveal its political contributions,” DiNapoli said. “When companies make their corporate political donations public, shareholders can evaluate if their interests are aligned with management's. More companies should follow the lead of KeyCorp and voluntarily disclose information that shareholders have a right to know.”