"... if political transparency is your thing, you might be a little conflicted about that Netflix addiction."

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20 well-known companies that aren’t being transparent about their politics
By Aaron Blake, September 24, 2014

The Center for Public Accountability is out today with a massive piece of research, ranking hundreds of major companies according to how politically transparent they are.

And let's just say that if political transparency is your thing, you might be a little conflicted about that Netflix addiction.

The study used a series of criteria, including how and whether these companies disclose political contributions, whether they disclose spending on contentious political issues like ballot measures, whether they are up-front about their policies on political giving, and whether there is proper oversight of that political giving.

As the Center for Public Integrity's Dave Levinthal -- who first wrote up the report -- noted, 20 of the nearly 300 companies included in the study came out with a score of zero. But the study notes that there is also evidence that companies are moving in the direction of more transparency. And while there are plenty of companies scoring very low, there are also many quite recognizable ones that score very highly.

Below we've picked out some of the most recognizable companies that scored either very highly or very lowly. (Warning to pro-transparency Keurig aficionados: You might feel moved to adjust your caffeine intake methods more toward Starbucks.)

And for those who want to look up a specific company that isn't listed below, we encourage you to peruse the full report.

Scoring zero:

T Rowe Price
Schwab (Charles) Corp.
Ralph Lauren Corp.
Ross Stores Inc.
Netflix
M&T Bank Corp.
Keurig Green Mountain Inc.

Low (20 or fewer points):

PNC Financial Services (4.3)
Fidelity National Information Services (4.3)
Dollar General Corp. (7.1)
Bed, Bath and Beyond Inc. (7.1)
Priceline.com Inc. (8.6)
Whole Foods Market Inc. (10.0)
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. (10.0)
DIRECTV (10.0)
CBS Corp. (11.4)
Macy’s Inc. (12.9)
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (15.7)
Tyson Foods (20.0)
Southwest Airlines Co (20.0)

High (75-90 points):

Visa Inc. (75.7)
Starbucks Corp. (75.7)
BB&T Corp. (75.7)
Aetna Inc. (75.7)
Monsanto Co. (77.1)
Kellogg Co. (77.1)
Johnson & Johnson (77.1)
MetLife Inc. (78.6)
Lockheed Martin Corp. (78.6)
General Electric Co. (78.6)
Boston Scientific Corp. (78.6)
CVS Caremark Corp. (80.0)
Costco Wholesale Corp. (80.0)
Wells Fargo & Co. (81.4)
Target Corp. (81.4)
eBay Inc. (81.4)
Boeing Co. (81.4)
General Mills, Inc. (87.1)
ConocoPhillips (87.1)
American Express Co. (87.1)
Yum Brands Inc. (Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut) (88.6)

Exemplary (90 points or above):

Time Warner Inc. (90.0)
Hershey Co. (90.0)
Intel Corp. (91.4)
Morgan Stanley (92.9)
Microsoft Corp. (92.9)
AFLAC Inc. (92.9)
United Parcel Service (UPS) Inc. (94.3)
Capital One Financial Corp. (94.3)
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