Antonio Weiss was recently in line to receive a $20 million bonus from his investment-bank employer for agreeing to take a Treasury Department undersecretary position. Weiss, who eventually took an advisory job that did not require Senate confirmation, is only the latest in a series of would-be and actual public officials who have stood to benefit from these “golden parachute” deals.

But why? If you go into government, you’re supposed to work for the public, not for Wall Street. Why is it in the interests of a bank or its shareholders to reward top executives – those who make millions of dollars a year because of all they presumably do for their employers — to leave? If the bank is motivated by something other than a desire to wield inappropriate influence on newly minted government officials, what is that motivation? This seems like a very fair question for shareholders to ask.

The AFL-CIO recently filed proposals to let big-bank shareholders demand greater transparency around these practices.  The banks’ reaction?  Panic.  They’re working as we speak to persuade the Securities and Exchange Commission to step in, allowing them to keep their policies a secret and their shareholders in the dark.

When bankers get large bonuses for taking government jobs, it sends a dangerous message about who is really calling the shots. If the big banks think these practices are defensible, they should defend them in the light of day.  They should let their shareholders know the facts and judge for themselves.  But if these policies are so indefensible that Wall Street needs to keep them a secret, that should tell shareholders and the public all they need to know.