Standard reply from Pfizer....at least they have it.
----- Original Message -----
From: Corporate Governance
Sent: Wednesday, September 05, 2007 11:01 AM
Subject: Re: Other Governance Issues
Dear xxxxxxxxx,
This note will acknowledge receipt of your e-mail sent to Pfizer’s Lead Independent Director. Thank you for taking the time to write to us and share your views. Your comments have been noted and will be shared with the Board.
Sincerely,
Margaret M. Foran
Senior Vice President – Corporate Governance,
Associate General Counsel & Corporate Secretary
Pfizer Inc.
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From: Pfizer
Sent: Friday, 24 August, 2007 12:37:23 AM
To: leaddirector
Subject: Other Governance Issues
Activity Subject:Other Governance Issues
Activity Body:As a Pfizer stockholder, I read with great concern articles in both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal concerning upcoming WTO sanctions on U.S. businesses to compensate for the government’s blocking of access to our Internet gaming market. [The articles are available online at
www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/business/worldbusiness/23gamble.html?ref=business and at
http://online.wsj.com/public/article...870406171.html.] The articles are very troubling, as it appears the U.S. is already preparing to give billions of dollars in trade sanctions to the EU and other nations in order to keep its Internet gaming restrictions. Also, the U.S. is willing to weaken the WTO by backing out of a previously agreed-upon sector of GATS. While it is bad enough that the U.S. government would choose to not allow people the freedom to choose to play poker in their own homes with their own money, expecting our most successful industries and our largest employers to finance this decision to the tune of billions of dollars per year in trade concessions is egregious. What makes this even worse is that, had Congress truly felt Internet gaming was wrong, they could have avoided this trade issue by simply banning all Internet gaming. However, this was not the case. Congress specifically allowed interstate horse race betting and fantasy football to be wagered over the Internet (apparently these are more moral than poker to someone in Congress). So, in essence, Pfizer is being asked to subsidize these two activities, which I’ve nicknamed the Mitch McConnell Horse Racing Subsidy and the NFL Fantasy Football Tax. Negotiations with the European Union over this issue are scheduled for next month. I urge you to speak up before the United States Trade Representative places these taxes on the shoulders of Pfizer. Sincerely, xxxxxxxxxxxxxx