Apple shareholder moves to boot Al Gore from board

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An activist shareholder is seeking to have climate change activist Al Gore removed from his long-standing position on Apple Inc.'s board of directors.



Corporate ethics watchdog National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) filed an exempt solicitation with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Wednesday that urged fellow Apple shareholders to vote against Gore as a director nominee at the tech giant's annual meeting, which is slated for March 10, arguing that the former U.S. vice president is not qualified for the role and that "his political activism poses to Apple a reputational risk that is not worth his limited skill set."

Gore is Apple's longest-serving director and was first elected to the board in 2003. The late Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement at the time that "Al brings an incredible wealth of knowledge and wisdom to Apple from having helped run the largest organization in the world — the United States government — as a Congressman, Senator and our 45th Vice President." Jobs added that the company was "excited and honored that [Gore] has chosen Apple as his first private sector board to serve on."

But the NLPC says it is time for Gore to go.

"Al Gore was never qualified to serve on Apple’s board in the first place, so for him to last for over 20 years is absurd," NLPC's Corporate Integrity Project Director Paul Chesser told FOX Business. "The only credentials he had, or has ever had, that meet any of Apple’s questionable criteria was that he’s been a Chicken Little for global warming. That term was so discredited that it’s now called 'climate change.' And so many of his other prophecies of doom have been proven untrue that he should be considered a false prophet."

Chesser accuses Gore of enriching himself with what Chesser calls the "fraudulent cause" of climate change. He claims the vice president is guilty of hypocrisy for his heavy use of electricity at his Tennessee home and the former vice president's proclivity for air travel that he claims to negate with carbon dioxide offsets.

Chesser also pointed to recent reports that Gore's "green-friendly" investment firm, Generation Investment Management, has billions invested in nearly two dozen companies found to have increased greenhouse gas emissions in recent years.

"Time has proven that whatever credibility Al Gore might have had is totally shot, and he belongs nowhere near any company’s board of directors," Chesser said. "Apple shareholders should oppose his renomination."

The NLPC also filed a separate exempt solicitation that urged Apple shareholders to oppose re-upping CEO Tim Cook to the board of directors, and NLPC is sponsoring a shareholder proposal that asks Apple to disclose more fully its risks of doing business — and the extent of its supply chain — in China.
Apple CEO Tim Cook with MacBooks

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