Contact: Thomas Strobhar, Pro Vita Advisors, 937-226-1337
DAYTON, Ohio, April 9 /Christian Newswire/ -- In a shareholder proposal filed with Ford Motor Company on October 29, 2007, Thomas Strobhar, President of Pro Vita Advisors, asked Ford to "list the recipients of corporate charitable contributions of $5,000 or more on the company website." His purpose was to expose the size and scope of Ford's use of shareholder money to support controversial organizations. The shareholder proposal was intended to be included in Ford's 2008 Proxy Materials for shareholder voting, and to be read at the Ford Annual Meeting to be held May 8, 2008.
Strobhar is no stranger to Ford. He previously drafted and presented shareholder proposals at Ford's 2006 and 2007 Annual Meetings. After last year's meeting, he spoke personally to Alan Mulally, Ford's CEO, concerning the company's extensive support and advocacy of the gay and lesbian agenda.
The most recent proposal stated "charitable contributions should enhance the image of our company," and that they should "promote the company's interests." By adding a carefully worded Supporting Statement to his proposal, Strobhar was able to expose Ford's controversial contributions to organizations advocating homosexual behavior and same-sex marriage. The skillful wording was necessary to make sure Ford's expected appeal to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to omit the proposal would be denied. Ford did, in fact, attempt to exclude the proposal from their proxy. However, in a response dated February 25, 2008, the SEC denied Ford's appeal to omit Strobhar's proposal.
Concurrent with Strobhar's shareholder activism, the American Family Association (AFA) was conducting a consumer boycott of Ford products to convince Ford to stop its extensive support of the homosexual agenda. The success of AFA's efforts was recently announced. Ford agreed to conditions that resulted in AFA suspending its two year boycott of Ford. Significantly, AFA reported over 780,000 individuals signed their petition boycotting Ford.
During the boycott period, Ford reported almost uninterrupted declining monthly sales and significant and recurring financial losses. It appears the effects of the boycott and Strobhar's persistently embarrassing shareholder proposals finally convinced Ford that shareholders had endured enough pain. Strobhar said, "I am please with the recent progress at Ford even though the company is still paying Domestic Partner Benefits to employees engaged in immoral sexual relations. However, in view of Ford's recent actions, we believe it appropriate to withdraw our current shareholder proposal."
