Shareholders cast 41% of their votes against Lewis and 49% against O. Temple Sloan, another director, based on their calculation of what the vote would have been had the uninstructed broker votes been removed, according to an estimate by Change to Win. (Sloan also stepped down).
Change to Win's Garland says the group hasn't decided whether it will launch a "just vote no" campaign against Bank of America in 2010.
However, he points out that it's early and investment groups still have plenty of time to act in advance of elections at controversial financial institutions and other companies.
One candidate for a "just vote no" campaign could be Pulte Homes Inc. (PHM), a Michigan-based homebuilder that has a majority-vote policy.
A majority of participating investors voted to oust three of Pulte's directors at the company's 2009 annual meeting. However, the group decided not to accept the resignations tendered by these directors, opting instead to take steps to resolve two governance issues that were central to the dissident investor campaign.
Later in 2009, Pulte completed a merger with Centex Corp. and two of the three directors opposed by the investor group remain on its newly reconstituted board, according to Pulte spokeswoman Caryn Kelbba. She added that those two directors aren't up for re-election this year.
Garland wouldn't go so far as to say CtW will launch a "just vote no" campaign against Pulte-Centex at its annual meeting, scheduled for May. However, he added, "there will likely be shareholder attention at Pulte. This will be a high-profile vote this year."
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