Perhaps 2007 is the year of shareholder activism, but if the resolutions passed by stockholders are not binding, why bother? And, that being said, it certainly is not much of a revolution.

Verizon Communications Inc. (NYSE: VZ) was the latest company to report that its shareholders had passed a proposal to give them a say in executive compensation. It took two weeks to count all of the votes and the proposal made it by with a thin 50.18% margin. It could have been 99.9%. The resolution is not binding on the board or management in any way.

Verizon was good enough to say that it will review the resolution and "consider what actions to take." Which means that the company will do exactly nothing.

The proposal had some energetic supporters, including both of the large proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass, Lewis, & Co. A number of Verizon's large institutional shareholders also voted "yes" for the measure. All of that means that some real time and effort went into a vote that is essentially meaningless.

They might as well take the money spent on getting the resolution approved and bet it at the blackjack tables in Vegas.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.