In January this year, a US Supreme Court ruling removed limits on corporate spending in political campaigns...[which] revived questions about how companies claiming to espouse principles of corporate responsibility should behave when it comes to their lobbying and political activity...A 2005 report produced by Accountability...and the [UN] Global Compact...identified a gap between the public corporate responsibility statements and sustainability commitments of many companies and their lobbying activities that push for narrow commercial interests...Much of the indirect lobbying companies engage in is conducted through business associations. Here too, contradictions have been emerging... [Gavin Power of UN Global Compact said,] “very few [companies] have board-level committees devoted to looking at key global issues as defined in public policy terms”. [refers to Apple, Nike, Target, Best Buy]