NYC Comptroller Opposes 2 Chesapeake Board Members

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New York City Comptroller John Liu wrote a letter to Chesapeake Energy shareholders encouraging them to vote “no” on the re-election of two members to the board of directors. Why does it matter what the New York City Comptroller thinks? Because New York City owns 1.9 million shares of Chesapeake stock—not an insignificant amount.

New York City Comptroller John Liu, the city’s fiscal watchdog, on Thursday urged shareholders of Chesapeake Energy Corp to withhold support for two directors up for re-election, citing the company’s recent governance woes.

"Shareholders urgently need new directors who are willing and able to exercise strong, independent oversight of Aubrey McClendon, a willful CEO with a penchant for risk," Liu said in a letter to shareholders.

The New York City Funds have $122 billion in assets under management, including 1.9 million Chesapeake shares.

Liu also urged support of a proposal that would allow shareholders to include a limited number of directors on the company’s proxy.

Richard Davidson and Burns Hargis are the only directors up for re-election this year.

So far, Chesapeake has not commented on Liu’s letter.

*CNBC (May 17, 2012) – NYC Comptroller opposes re-election of Chesapeake directors