Overview
Corporations are legal creations of the state — and the state can set the terms. Strategy 5 reclaims that power. It holds that if a corporation uses its charter to undermine democracy, it can and should lose the privileges that come with incorporation.
Corporate Charter Enforcement gives states a direct, legal mechanism to stop political abuse by businesses — especially those laundering dark money, repeatedly violating disclosure rules, or acting through deceptive shell structures. If corporations want the benefits of limited liability and perpetual existence, they must play by rules that protect the public, not just shareholders.
The Problem
Today, many corporations:
- Channel money through 501(c)(4)s or LLCs to hide political spending
- Contract with vendors to obscure true funders of political ads
- Use complex ownership structures to dodge beneficial ownership disclosure
- Fund ballot initiatives while shielding their true identity
Under current enforcement, these activities are rarely penalized — even when they violate transparency laws. Many companies treat fines as the cost of doing business.
What the Reform Does
Corporate Charter Enforcement allows states to:
- Revoke or suspend the state charter of corporations that repeatedly violate election law
- Deny registration or renewal to out-of-state entities that refuse to disclose beneficial ownership
- Block state contracts or tax benefits to corporations that operate through dark money channels
- Blacklist vendors and consultants proven to participate in laundering or deceptive political influence
In short: corporations that act like rogue political actors lose the protections of the corporate form.
Enforcement Tools
- Chartering agencies and secretaries of state gain authority to investigate and sanction charter violations tied to election abuse
- Firewall data infrastructure provides tracking of repeat violations and suspicious funding networks
- Public enforcement mechanisms (similar to consumer fraud alerts) allow civic groups to flag violators
- Disclosure triggers expose when a corporation is acting through subsidiaries to mask activity
Legal Basis
Charter enforcement is constitutionally strong because:
- Corporations are creatures of state law, not individuals with unqualified rights
- States have broad discretion to define charter conditions and revoke them for misconduct
- Revocation is a regulatory remedy — not a limit on speech or belief
- Laws are crafted to be content-neutral and enforcement-based, targeting behavior, not viewpoint
Precedent exists for charter revocation in cases of fraud, public harm, and repeated regulatory noncompliance. Election abuse belongs on that list.
Implementation Model
- Phase 1: Define model charter conditions tied to political activity and transparency
- Phase 2: Map firewall-compliance to charter status for all major state-incorporated firms
- Phase 3: Pass enabling legislation granting state agencies charter enforcement powers
- Phase 4: Launch a Charter Accountability Dashboard showing flagged entities and sanctions
Why It Matters
Corporations enjoy immense public benefits — but too many abuse those privileges to undermine democracy. When they act like unregulated political machines, it’s time for the public to act.
This strategy uses existing legal tools to shift the risk. It puts Big Money actors on notice: abuse the system, and you lose your shield.
It’s not radical. It’s accountability. And it’s long overdue.