Political Influence
Conduct Screen Corporate Misconduct
Documented use of political donations, lobbying, or regulatory capture to shield harmful practices from oversight — includes dark money contributions, revolving door hiring of former regulators, and coordinated campaigns to weaken industry-specific regulations. The test is whether the political spending serves to protect conduct that would otherwise face enforcement, not ordinary corporate advocacy. Distinct from corruption (which covers bribery) and climate_policy (which covers lobbying specifically against climate regulation).
20 companies currently excluded under this screen
Excluded Companies (20 total)
Showing 20 of 20 companies excluded under this screen.
| Ticker | Company | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| AMGN | Amgen Inc. | $212M+ in federal lobbying (2003-2024), consistently among the top pharmaceutical spenders. Lobbying focused on opposing drug pricing reform and Medicare negotiation authority. |
| BMY | Bristol-Myers Squibb Company | Bristol-Myers Squibb's political influence extends well beyond standard pharma lobbying ($10M in 2025, 91% YoY increase). BMS is distinguished by a 2007 criminal guilty plea for perjury (lying to DOJ ... |
| CNP | CenterPoint Energy | CenterPoint sits on the board of the American Gas Association, which opposes building electrification policy. The company is a member of ALEC and Consumer Energy Alliance. It supported Texas SB 1261, ... |
| COIN | Coinbase Global, Inc. | Coinbase contributed over $75 million to the Fairshake PAC in the 2024 election cycle, making it the single largest corporate funder of a super PAC. Fairshake deployed $170 million total and achieved ... |
| CVS | CVS Health Corporation | CVS Health spent $9.93M on federal lobbying in 2025 and $9.46M in 2024, and donated to dark money groups including America First Policies. Systematic use of corporate resources to shape healthcare pol... |
| CVX | Chevron Corporation | Chevron Corporation has engaged in a documented pattern of using the legal and political system to shield itself from accountability for environmental harm. This is most prominently illustrated by its... |
| DOW | Dow Inc. | Dow Inc. discloses spending millions annually on lobbying expenses and political contributions. Its influence extends through memberships in industry associations like the American Chemistry Council, ... |
| DPZ | Domino's Pizza Inc | Domino's Pizza Inc. maintains a significant lobbying presence despite its stated policy against direct political contributions. The company reported $320,000 in federal lobbying expenditures in 2024, ... |
| EXC | Exelon | Exelon’s subsidiary Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) engaged in a long-running political corruption scheme to influence legislation in Illinois. Between 2011 and 2019, ComEd arranged jobs, subcontracts, an... |
| HON | Honeywell International Inc. | Honeywell International is a major federal contractor, with approximately 35% of its revenue derived from government sales, including to the U.S. Department of Defense. The company maintains a signifi... |
| HSY | Hershey Company (The) | The Hershey Company is a member of the World Cocoa Foundation and the National Confectioners Association, trade groups that have historically opposed mandatory due diligence legislation for cocoa supp... |
| JNJ | Johnson & Johnson | Johnson & Johnson spent $8.25 million on federal lobbying in 2024, according to OpenSecrets. The company's political action committee distributed $519,500 to federal candidates in the 2023-2024 cycle,... |
| KHC | The Kraft Heinz Company | The Kraft Heinz Company maintains a structured political influence operation through its corporate political action committee (PAC) and lobbying activities. According to its public governance document... |
| KO | Coca-Cola Company (The) | Coca-Cola spent $4.93 million on federal lobbying in 2024 and $3.48 million through the first half of 2025, according to OpenSecrets filings. The company's PAC contributed $1.37 million to candidates ... |
| LLY | Eli Lilly and Company | Eli Lilly paid $29.4 million to settle SEC charges (2012) for bribing government officials in Russia, China, Brazil, and Poland to win pharmaceutical business — a documented FCPA violation. Beyond dir... |
| LVS | Las Vegas Sands Corp. | Las Vegas Sands Corporation has a documented history of using its financial influence to shape policy in its favor. The company operates a corporate political action committee, Sands PAC, which makes ... |
| MMM | 3M Company | 3M has a documented pattern of using improper payments to foreign officials to secure business, culminating in a 2023 enforcement action by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company agr... |
| MO | Altria Group | Altria Group, the parent company of Philip Morris USA, maintains one of the most extensive corporate lobbying operations in the United States, specifically structured to shield its tobacco business fr... |
| NEE | NextEra | Private securities class action (Jastram v. NextEra Energy) filed after CEO Eric Silagy's abrupt January 2023 resignation following exposure of the Matrix LLC dark money scheme. NextEra subsidiary FPL... |
| SBUX | Starbucks Corporation | Starbucks Corporation has engaged in extensive political activity to influence labor law and enforcement. The company is a member of the National Restaurant Association, a trade group that lobbies aga... |
The Naughty List
A digest of changes to our exclusion list — new additions, removals, and the evidence behind them. We review the list continuously as new evidence surfaces.
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