| 14 August 2009

Genocide is the topic, proxy voting is the mechanism for change. We earlier reported on the active campaign from Investors Against Genocide (IAG) to limit investment in companies that do business in Darfur, such as PetroChina. But now it appears the active campaigning and intense scrutiny is shining a bright light on a very dark hole: the proxy voting process.

Reuters picked up the news that at least two shareholders were openly complaining about the process. Here's most striking example:

"Shareholder Susan Yeon, a Cambridge, Mass. physician, said a D.F. King employee improperly made her give a verbal defense of her vote in favor of the resolution and asked her if she wanted to reverse her vote. Then the caller put her on hold twice because of 'technical difficulties.'"

Fidelity calls the complaints "negligible." But another vote is going down today and we anticipate the IAG group to jump all over the proxy problems.

When will Fidelity executives learn that sometimes, when it comes to news, there is such a thing as bad news? If you're a shareholder, let us know if you're having a hard time casting your vote.

UPDATE: Votes are in for two of the funds. No surprise here.