Maury County Mayor Andy Ogles, a Republican candidate in the August 4 primary for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, announced Tuesday that he is joining U.S. Representative John Rose (R-TN-06) in criticizing proposed Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulations that impose requirements on public companies regarding their non-financial activities.
“The proposed enhanced reporting requirements that will pressure public companies to pursue liberal political objectives regarding their environmental, social impact, and governance (ESG) policies rather than sound profit and business objectives is quite simply an assault on capitalistic and free-market principles,” Ogles said.
He exclaimed, “As Democrats focus their agenda on making companies subscribe to their ‘woke’ policy objectives American consumers and investors are paying the price!”
“I completely agree with Congressman Rose’s assessment that a Republican majority in the House will force the SEC to reconsider such regulatory overreach after the midterm elections, and I look forward to working with him in Congress to do exactly that,” Ogles added.
While Davidson County is an important portion of the newly drawn 5th district, it is important to note that the rural and suburban counties of the district are critical to Tennessee’s agriculture production, Ogles noted.
“These proposed ESG regulations could have a severe impact on our farmers and farm communities, and will drive up grocery prices for families, so EVERYONE should join us in opposing these wrongheaded liberal rules,” he said.
The public comment period for the proposed SEC regulations expires soon, so now is the time to speak up, Ogles concluded. “Woke policies of the Left are taking a huge toll on the companies, and investors, who have adopted them.” Ogles said, “We don’t need our entire U.S. corporate structure ‘going broke by going woke’ and taking our national economy with them.”
Previously reported, Rose led a bipartisan letter to Securities and Exchange Commission Chair (SEC) Gary Gensler defending America’s farmers against a proposed new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) regulation.
In March, the SEC proposed a new ESG rule that would require public companies to include “climate-related” disclosures in their registration statements and periodic reports.
The bipartisan letter, which was signed by over 100 U.S. representatives, expressed concerns about how these new regulations would negatively affect America’s farmers.
According to a statement from Rose’s office:
The proposed rule on “Enhance[ment] and Standardization of Climate-Related Disclosures for Investors” would require public companies to include climate-related information in their annual reports. This could potentially include disclosure of greenhouse gas emissions, climate-related risks, processes for identifying climate-related risks, and other downstream supply chain information. This poses a significant threat to farms as it could prevent them from being able to sell their products to public companies as most do not have the resources necessary to gather all the information required by the proposed rule.
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Aaron Gulbransen is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected]. Follow Aaron on GETTR, Twitter, Truth Social, and Parler.
Photo “Andy Ogles” by Mayor Andy Ogles for Congress. Background Photo “Farmers” by Yin_Min_Tun. CC BY-SA 4.0.
