"It is exceedingly unlikely that shareholder groups can do a better job of hiring directors than search committees and the professional executive search firms on which they rely."
Phil Kerpen of NRO, writing two weeks after Home Depot had to shell out nine figures to get rid of their failed CEO, has come out squarely against owners having rights. The AFSCME wants to be able to nominate candidates for AIG's board of directors. Kerpen calls this a "threat to Capitalism." To Kerpen, for a 3% stake-holder to throw out a name that still has to be voted on by the owners of the other 97% is the first step on the long, slippery road to socialism.
The problem of course is that Kerpen is not as much troubled by owners having rights as much as he is appalled and horrified that those who labor and sweat on behalf of corporate America only to have their companies go bankrupt and their pensions flushed down the CEO's platinum pisser actually could have a say in corporate governance.
So, the question is... just what does stock ownership mean if not having a say in who runs the company?
