Romney campaigning in Florida (Justin Sullivan/Getty)
Koch Industries, the Wichita, Kan.-based company run by the billionaire Koch brothers, sent
a voter information packet to 45,000 employees of its Georgia Pacific subsidiary earlier this month.
In it was a letter, dated Oct. 1, from Koch Industries president Dave
Robertson implicitly warning that "many of our more than 50,000 U.S.
employees and contractors may suffer the consequences" of voting for
President Obama and other Democrats in the 2012 elections, a list of
conservative candidates the company's political action committee
endorses and a pair of editorials: one, by David Koch, supporting Mitt
Romney, and the other, by Charles Koch, condemning Obama.
"While we are typically told before each Presidential election that
it is important and historic, I believe the upcoming election will
determine what kind of America future generations will inherit,"
Robertson's letter--
first published by InTheseTimes.com--begins.
"If we elect candidates who want to spend hundreds of billions in
borrowed money on costly new subsidies for a few favored cronies, put
unprecedented regulatory burdens on businesses, prevent or delay
important new construction projects, and excessively hinder free trade,
then many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may
suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway
inflation, and other ills. This is true regardless of what your
political affiliation might be."
Robertson's letter continued:
(In These Times)
To help you engage in the political process, we have enclosed several
items in this packet. For most of you, this includes information about
voter registration deadlines and early voting options for your state. At
the request of many employees, we have also provided a list of
candidates in your state that have been supported by Koch companies or
by the KOCHPAC, our employee political action committee.
I want to emphasize two things about these lists. First, and most
important, we believe any decision about which candidates to support is
-- as always -- yours and yours alone, based on the factors that are
most important to you. Second, we do not support candidates based on
their political affiliation. We evaluate them based on who is the most
market-based and willing to support economic freedom for the benefit of
society as a whole.
If you are concerned about our economy, our future and enhancing the
quality of life for all Americans, then I encourage you to consider the
principles of your candidates and not just their party affiliation. It
is essential that we are all informed and educated voters. Our future
depends on it.
It's not the first time Koch Industries has sent employees political
packets. Just before the 2010 midterm elections, Koch sent staffers an
urgent mailer that the Nation said was "
full of alarmist right-wing propaganda."
Last week, David Siegel, the founder and CEO of Florida-based Westgate Resorts,
sent an email to employees informing them that layoffs are likely if Obama is reelected:
It's quite simple. If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company,
as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the
size of this company. Rather than grow this company I will be forced to
cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less
opportunity for everyone.
So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which
candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who
doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions
and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and
saving your job. While the media wants to tell you to believe the "1
percenters" are bad, I'm telling you they are not. They create most of
the jobs. If you lose your job, it won't be at the hands of the "1%"; it
will be at the hands of a political hurricane that swept through this
country.
As
Gawker noted, Siegel and his wife were the subjects of "
The Queen of Versailles,"
a recent documentary "about their ongoing quest to build the largest
house in America." And Siegel has often claimed credit for George W.
Bush's victory over Al Gore in the 2000 presidential race. ("I had my
managers do a survey on every employee [8,000 total]," Siegel t
old Bloomberg BusinessWeek. "If they liked Bush, we made them register to vote. But not if they liked Gore.")
Siegel and the Koch brothers are not alone in issuing anti-Obama missives to employees.
According to MSNBC, Arthur Allen, chief executive of ASG Software Solutions, wrote a similar email to his staffers on Sept. 30:
Many of you have been with ASG for over 5, 10, 15, and
even 20 years. As you know, together, we have been able to keep ASG an
independent company while still growing our revenues and customers. But I
can tell you, if the US re-elects President Obama, our chances of
staying independent are slim to none. I am already heavily involved in
considering options that make our independence go away, and with that
all of our lives would change forever. I believe that a new President
and administration would give US citizens and the world the renewed
confidence and optimism we all need to get the global economies started
again, and give ASG a chance to stay independent. If we fail as a nation
to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence
as a company, I don't want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout
that will most likely come.
In the email, Allen added: "I am asking you to give us one more
chance to stay independent by voting in a new President and
administration on November 6th."
end quote from:
Koch Industries, other CEOs warn employees of layoffs if Obama is reelected
The real problem with this kind of behavior is that it defeats the electoral system by blackmailing employees of these companies to vote for Romney or else whether they want to or not.
You and I have already read about all the "Male" employees who have gone berserk after being laid off all over this country and have returned to work and killed some or all of their previous fellow employees. This sort of thing just encourages this kind of insanity among employees and makes the electoral process a farce. Though I suppose it is legal for e CEO to do this I also think it brings them open to civil suits or worse by the ACLU and other lawyering entities in the short and long run as awful things happen related to this kind of behavior.
It wouldn't really matter whether it was someone saying if Obama doesn't get elected you will lose your job or saying If Romney doesn't get elected you will lose your job. Either way it is a travesty of the election process and corrupts the free voting of the individual and creates "Voting by Blackmail" instead. So, it is a loss of voting rights and potential murders should people actually be laid off if Obama IS reelected.
Also, if Obama isn't reelected thousands also will die for sure when they lose their insurance if Romney is elected. So, either way no matter who is elected many people will die or lose their jobs because of it. That is a given if we really want to be realistic about this.
Later: My son made an interesting comment about this. He has an IQ of about 150. What he said was, "It seems like these companies are preparing to lay off people no matter who is elected and this is their way of doing it. So, they are forcing their employees to vote for Romney while planning to lay them off no matter who wins." I think he's right.
OpEdNews
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