July 24, 2001 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - SunTrust's bid for
Wachovia was further frustrated after a proxy adviser
recommended that its institutional investor clients support
First Union's $14.4 billion plan to acquire the Southeastern
US Bank.
According to the proxy advisor, Institutional
Shareholder Services (ISS), which makes recommendations on
contentious issues scheduled for vote by shareholders,
SunTrust failed to:
prove its deal was sufficiently attractive for
shareholders to reject the First Union merger,
show a Wachovia-SunTrust merger was demonstrably more
attractive, and
show the First Union deal was irreparably tainted by
process irregularities.
ISS?s recommendations are considered influential since
large institutional shareholders pay the group for its
advice and then vote in line with its recommendations.
Another advisor, Proxy Monitor Inc., recommended Friday
that Wachovia investors approve First Union’s bid.
Nonetheless, SunTrust says it doesn’t expect the counsel
to have much impact. In a press release, SunTrust noted
“Given Wachovia’s large retail shareholder base and the
fact that most larger institutions make their own
decisions, SunTrust believes that ISS’s position will sway
few votes.”
Nearly half of Wachovia’s shareholder base is comprised
of retail investors.
Wachovia stockholders will meet on August 3 to vote on
the First Union deal.
Catholic Group to Challenge Maine Domestic-Partner
Benefit Law
December 6, 2002 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Catholic
Charities Maine is taking the city of Portland to court over
a requirement to offer domestic partner benefits to its
employees.
Portland officials have refused to give Catholic
Charities Maine $87,000 in federal housing and community
development grants because the city’s ordinance requires
agencies receiving those funds to offer domestic partners
the same benefits available to heterosexual spouses, the
newspaper said.
According to a Portland (Maine) Press Herald report, the
social service agency contends that obeying the city
ordinance would force the group to violate Roman Catholic
doctrine against homosexuality, cohabitation by unmarried
couples, and premarital sex.
Portland this year awarded $3.3 million in federal
grants to more than 25 social-service agencies. Only
Catholic Charities Maine and the Salvation Army would not
agree to offer domestic-partner benefits. The Salvation
Army opted to forgo a $60,000 grant for a meals-on-wheels
program rather than violate its religious principles.
Catholic Charities Maine intends to forfeit the money,
which was earmarked for counseling and child-care programs,
and hopes it can be raised elsewhere so the programs will
not be substantially affected. John Kerry, chief
executive officer, told the Press Herald that agency’s
board of directors does not want to create a perception
that the church condones sexual activity, whether
homosexual or heterosexual, outside of marriage.
Kerry said the lawsuit would allege that the city of
Portland improperly kept back public funds over the
issue.
Legal Precedent from San Francisco
Gene Libby, attorney for Catholic Charities Maine, said
the city’s domestic-partner ordinance is at odds with
long-standing federal laws relating to employee benefits,
equal rights and religious freedom. The most relevant
legal precedent, Libby said, is a case involving the city
of
San Francisco
, which enacted a law similar to Portland’s in 1996, though
it applied to all entities that contract to do work for the
city.
In that case, the Air Transport Association of America
successfully challenged San Francisco’s domestic-partner
ordinance, citing ERISA. “The court issued a ruling
which clearly stated the city does not have authority to
mess around with employee health benefits,” Libby told the
newspaper. “The city of Portland does not have jurisdiction
over these benefits.”
ERISA does allow regulation of insurance providers,
which is why the Maine Legislature last year was able to
require insurance companies to begin offering
domestic-partner benefits.
Catholic Charities Maine employs 650 people and provides
social services in 200 municipalities across the state. It
had a budget last year of $23.5 million.