Here’s a scare: in these last couple weeks leading up to the presidential election, CEOs of major American companies have been coercing employees to vote Republican, sometimes under the threat of “personal consequences” that would occur following Obama’s reelection. Solicitation has taken the form of scathing emails urging employees to vote for Romney, give money to the Republican campaign and even attend rallies.
The media recently gave attention to David Siegel, the founder and chief executive of Westgate Resorts. This organization just so happens to be the largest privately held time-share company in the world. In early October, Siegel sent a lengthy email to his 7,000 employees saying, “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…This means fewer jobs, less benefits, and certainly less opportunity for everyone.” While this does not directly threaten workers with the possibility of job loss, Siegel’s message is pretty clear: vote for Romney if you have your own (and my) best interests at heart.
What is not so apparent is the fact that Siegel’s net worth is estimated to be about 1.8 billion dollars. He stated in a Bloomberg Businessweek interview that if Obama wins a second term, he will “seriously think about retiring…[he] could take [his] money out of the company and live happily ever after.” Essentially, David Siegel has no problem with abandoning ship and spending his remaining years in his 90,000 square-foot Florida home – which he humbly calls Versailles.
Arthur Allen, CEO of ASG Software Solutions (a $375 million company), repeatedly solicited over 1,300 of his employees to support Romney with a vote and campaign donation. According to his emails, Allen informed his employees, “If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6, and we lose our independence as a company, I don’t want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come.” He then urged employees to donate up to $2,500 to the Romney campaign, saying it was in their best interest. Allen blames the dire financial state of his company on excessive government spending, yet proudly touts the use of his $50 million dollar company-owned private jet. Talk about excessive.
This onslaught of pressure from CEOs across America did not go unprompted. In June, Mitt Romney stated in a teleconference, “I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections.” He was quick to defend the legality of this request, which still became a target for criticism. Romney, a former CEO himself, has no problem urging CEOs to exert influence over their employees and oh-so delicately coerce them to vote Republican.
While it’s irritating that CEOs have this kind of influence, I still believe that the individual employees, if well informed, can easily ignore such solicitations and think for themselves. However, the line is crossed when CEOs start requiring employees to attend campaign rallies. According to headlines in September, miners in Ohio were reportedly required to go to a Romney rally. The Century Coal mine, owned by Murray Energy, was closed the day of the rally and the miners had their pay docked if they did not attend. When news of this event leaked out a couple days later, Chief Operating Officer Robert Moore cleared up the entire issue by stating, “Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event.” Oh, okay. It should be no surprise by this point that Murray Energy is a major donor to the Republican campaign.
Obama supporters have gone so far as to call the miners “Romney’s political props” in commercial advertising. The real crime here is the company’s manipulation of its resources and employees to influence the political election in its favor. In this case, it is the greed of wealthy CEOs who are willing to exercise their powers at the expense of a miner’s pay. Employees become simple company assets.
Despite all of this negative media attention and criticism, CEOs remain deluded about their role in the situation. As our modest, perceptive executive David Siegel phrased it, “I’ve always looked out for their best interests. We’re like a family. They’re like my children, and I’m the Jewish mother telling them to eat their spinach and vote for Romney. •
