Obama Should Have Overpaid CEOs Shaking

One of AFSCME's primary goals has been to get companies, particularly financial firms, to implement an advisory vote on executive compensation. Continuing from last year, the ASCME will be pushing for further say-on-pay reform as well as splitting the chairman and CEO roles at more financial firms, Ferlauto says.

He expects say-on-pay reform to become a "core principal of a broader reform package that will move through Congress more quickly," he says.

And Ferlauto and his team could get support. After say-on-pay legislation has passed the House of Representatives in 2007, Sen. Obama became the chief sponsor of a similar bill in the Senate.

AFSCME is also looking to "better define" the "nebulous" requirements for further regulation on excessive risk taking, "by submitting proposals that require the holding of all equity awards for two years past retirement with a company so that the interests of the CEO will be exactly aligned with the interests of the shareholders," Ferlauto says.

Garland adds that it will be interesting to see just how committed Obama is toward executive pay reform and stronger investor protections in general by seeing who he appoints as the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

"My opinion is that something has to happen," says Joseph Leonard, founder and CEO of Coastal Investment Advisors in Southport, N.C. "It's one thing when a company is paying for that exit plan, but it's a whole other story when the federal government is bailing them out using taxpayer dollars. The demand of the general public for the government not to be spending these dollars on these executive compensation plans will push this through." Leonard expects something to happen over the next 18 to 24 months.