Reply #44: That sounds great. Here's another way to put the heat on Diebold

[JudyM]

Like many of us did with Sinclair, we can put heat on Diebold for its actions. Here's the list of its board members, for whoever's up for writing to them (email them at their companies' websites), followed by a list of its institutional investors and finally, a quickie draft letter you can use. If you're only going to send one letter, consider sending it to one of the institutional investors rather than to a Board member. Note that there are 2 variations of the letter's second paragraph - pick the one that's appropriate, as noted. Please freely edit the letter, of course, however you'd like.

1. Board of Directors:
Louis V. Bockius III Retired Chairman, Bocko Incorporated
Christopher M. Connor Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, The Sherwin-Williams Company
Richard L. Crandall Managing Director, Aspen Partners, LLC
Eric C. Evans President and Chief Operating Officer, Diebold
Gale S. Fitzgerald Director , TranSpend, Inc.
Phillip B. Lassiter Non-executive Chairman of the Board, Ambac Financial Group, Inc.
John N. Lauer Retired Chairman of the Board, Oglebay Norton Co.
William F. Massy President, The Jackson Hole Higher Education Group, Inc.
Eric J. Roorda Former Chairman, Procomp Amazonia Industria Eletronica, S.A.
W.R. Timken Jr. Non-executive Chairman of the Board, The Timken Company
Henry D.G. Wallace Retired Group Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Ford Motor Company

2. Institutional Investors (write in particular to any in that hold your money)
Fidelity Mgmt and Research (far and away the largest sharholder)
First manhattan capital Mgmt
T Rowe Price
Artisan Partners
Barclay's Global Investors Intl
Baincapital
Franklin Advisors
US Trust Corp
Aim Capital Mgmt
Pioneer Investments
State Stree Global Advisors
Banc One Investment advisors
Vanguard Group
Alliance Capital Mgmt
Transamerica Investments

3. Draft letter (note - choose one of the 2 verions of 2nd paragraph):

Dear :

I write to express my outrage at the conduct of Diebold in relation to the recent presidential election, and to suggest you consider the gravity of its actions. Diebold's performance on several fronts has been abyssmal. First, there have been numerous problems reported with the equipment that would have been caught with even rudimentary quality control processes. Second, it has been reported that Diebold was made aware of some of these problems and failed to fix them. Third, there was an utter lack of control over the computer code, which is now all over the internet.

Add for Board members only:
It is certainly an element of your fiduciary duty to shareholders to seriously consider the performance of Diebold in these respects, and I urge you to revisit your most basic operating and compliance principles and take swift and strong action to clean up Diebold's operations. In particular, your CEO made a mockery of the service you were entrusted with providing by ensuring the delivery of Ohio votes, and the world now knows. Surely you can see what poor leadership this flagrant conflict of interest constitutes. It is astounding that in this post-Enron/Worldcom environment a CEO would be so oblivious to the ramifications of his own actions. Plus it could subject Diebold to protracted and costly legal action and untold reputational damage. If he is not made to feel the grave error of his actions I think you know that the US Sentencing Guidelines for Organizational Defendants will lead any judge to be quite harsh in reviewing any case that citizens or the government bring forth. This is particularly true in that he has violated Diebold's Code of Conduct, which states," Also, every board director, officer and employee must exercise sound judgment in all matters involving business ethics and integrity and to refrain from any conduct that could be questionable, or appears to be questionable, on ethical grounds." It is clear to the country that, as things now stand, Diebold should not be entrusted with upholding the foundation of our democracy.

Add for institutional shareholders only:
Please consider that you have a fiduciary duty to shareholders to seriously consider the performance of Diebold in these respects, and I urge you to drop Diebold from your portfolios. This type of performance suggests a systemic disregard for both product quality and corporate integrity. Both of these are critical lapses in a company that provides security services and counts among its clients the financial services industry. In particular, Diebold's CEO made a mockery of the service it was entrusted with providing by assuring the delivery of Ohio votes, and the world now knows. This constitutes a flagrant conflict of interest and throws question on the integrity of the company's operations, in general. It is astounding that in this post-Enron/Worldcom environment a CEO would be so oblivious to the ramifications of his own actions. Plus it could subject Diebold to protracted and costly legal action and untold reputational damage. And the US Sentencing Guidelines for Organizational Defendants will lead any judge to be quite harsh in reviewing any case that citizens or the government bring forth.