INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — WellPoint Inc. shareholders rejected a call for more disclosure about the health insurer's political contributions Wednesday during a shout-filled, contentious annual meeting.
Union representatives and other protesters repeatedly interrupted Angela Braly, chairman of WellPoint, Indianapolis (NYSE:WLP, after she opened the meeting and introduced proposals for shareholder voting. One person presented a petition she said was signed by 15,000 people asking the company for more disclosure.
Shareholders have added proposals calling for more political spending insight to the proxy statements of several companies this spring. Those include the Union Pacific railroad and Pfizer Inc., the world's largest drugmaker.
At WellPoint's meeting in a downtown Indianapolis hotel near corporate headquarters, protesters stood up to talk over Braly shortly after she began speaking. Security personnel, who lined the room, escorted the first person to do this from the meeting. More audience members then continued to interrupt Braly.
"Full disclosure of corporate spending on political activities is in the best interest of shareholders," audience member Dave Wallace shouted as Braly told him in a monotone he was speaking out of order, before the meeting's question-and-answer session. Wallace is the president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, or AFSCME, Local 1117 in Torrance, Calif.
Braly said her company complies with all legal disclosure requirements and also publishes an extensive report on its contributions and lobbying. WellPoint later said a total of 83% of shareholders voting rejected the proposal calling for greater disclosure. Company officials also said a similar measure was rejected a couple of years ago.
Bobby Jones, an AFSCME representative from New Hampshire, asked Braly if she would commit to cutting ties with the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a conservative nonprofit group that brings together lawmakers and private sector organizations to develop legislation and policy.
