[ by Melanie Gretchen ] Goldman Sachs may have to share its lobby ties with its shareholders, who are "concerned" with the firm's influence on public policy.  Just as the May 24 shareholder vote on a proposal for the firm to do just that by The Needmor Group, a small foundation based in Toledo, Ohio, is nonbinding, so is the fund's $24 million in assets. Next month, the fund will hold a shareholder vote at the company's annual meeting.  Executive director David Beckwith, said, "Goldman Sachs has become a target for public criticism recently.  As owners we are concerned that the company uses its power and money in a responsible way as it seeks to influence public policy." Pressure Cooker. Like Goldman, dozens of other U.S. public corporations are facing pressure from shareholder groups with an eye to learning about the firm's lobbying work and bankrolling of political candidates.  Just this year, Goldman itself paid a $22 million penalty in April to settle SEC allegations that it didn’t have policies to prevent analysts from sharing nonpublic information with the firm’s traders.  The month before, Greg Smith's resignation sent the stock down via a New York Times op-ed, where he described the culture at the firm to be “as toxic and destructive” as he has ever known it. Needmor's Interests. What the funds wants is for Goldman to name all the trade associations in which the company holds memberships, how much it gives to each group for advocacy work and what specifically is the subject of their lobbying activity. To date, the Needmor foundation calculates that Goldman spent about $7.4 million in 2009 and 2010 on direct federal lobbying activities.  According to the U.S. Senate Office of Public Records, Goldman spent about $2 million in the second half of 2011 on lobbying. In the fourth quarter, Goldman lobbied the House, Senate and securities and futures regulators on issues related to the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act. Timothy Smith, an adviser to the Needmor Fund, wasn't satisfied with Goldman's response to its request: "Channeling company funds secretly through trade associations which do not disclose where there funds came from or how they use them to lobby is a risky business for a company’s reputation.  We are perplexed about Goldman Sachs refusal to even list the major trade associations they are members of and lobby through.  Poor corporate governance plain and simple." In other words, Needmor...needs more. For further details, go to [Market Watch, 4/23/12].