Holding Google's Feet to the Fire

Most fund managers are cowards. They always try to stick with the herd, and they never want to stand up for anything. And the bigger and more blue-chip their companies, the more spineless they are.

At least, that's what the cynics say. Are they wrong? I hope so. And some of the biggest names in the fund world, including the folks at Fidelity, American Funds and Vanguard, have just been given a golden chance to prove it.

The scene: Google's annual stockholders' meeting in Mountain View, Calif., on May 10.

If you remember, Google (GOOG Quote) management came under fire a couple of years ago for giving in to China's Communist dictatorship on censorship. In return for being allowed access to the country and its vast market, Google agreed to censor the Chinese version of its Web site to exclude politically sensitive subjects.

Enter New York City comptroller William Thompson, who is taking a stand for freedom. Thompson is overseer of the big public pension funds in the city, including the police, firefighters and teachers pension money. That gives him a fair amount of clout at stockholder meetings. Total assets under Thompson's management: $105 billion.

Let's concede that Thompson may have noticed what taking on Big Finance did for Eliot Spitzer's popularity. There's nothing wrong with that. And this year he is proving an activist shareholder at a number of big companies.

Among them, Google.