Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey filed lawsuits last week against Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services, two shareholder voting advisory firms that together hold a virtual duopoly in that market.

These firms advise institutional shareholders—typically asset and pension managers—how they should vote on corporate issues. These fund managers are in turn voting as proxies on behalf of the investors in their funds. 

Bailey’s lawsuits allege that Glass Lewis and ISS have leveraged their position to push a left-wing agenda, including ideologies like the environmental, social and governance–or ESG—movement, and diversity, equity and inclusion—or DEI. Critics of the ESG industry say that activists have used the proxy voting process to compel companies to take up political causes, regardless of the interests or wishes of shareholders and consumers.

“It’s important to protect Missouri consumers against firms like this that are in breach of their fiduciary duties,” Bailey told The Daily Signal. “These are two foreign-owned firms that have hijacked the U.S. economy and are pushing a radical left-wing agenda that would never get passed through a deliberative legislative body that was democratically elected.”

ISS is owned by Deutsche Börse Group, a German firm, and Glass Lewis is owned by Canadian investors Peloton........

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