By Kevin Foley
Back in the days of the robber barons, when moguls owned company towns and paid their employees with scrip they could spend only in the company stores they also owned, Americans stuck in these pathetic little fiefdoms had no way out. The master who lived up on the hill in palatial opulence literally looked down on his workers while controlling virtually every aspect of their lives.
Those days are long gone...or are they?
At ASG Software Solutions, CEO Arthur Allen is telling his employees to vote for Mitt Romney...or else. Allen, playing the cranky and miserly Mr. Potter of “It's a Wonderful Life,” applied an oh-so-deft touch in a recent e-mail he sent to the company's 1,300 employees:
“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,” he told them.
Allen makes no mention of the increased taxes he’ll likely have to pay if Obama is re-elected and lets the Bush tax cuts expire. Rather, Allen bemoans the company's possible loss of “independence” should the president prevail in November.
“Neither the world nor the US can stand to elect politicians any longer,” Allen goes on. “Would you hire a person with no experience to do brain surgery? Of course not, but that’s what the US voters did in 2009.”
Er, Mr. Allen? A Democratic politician with no business experience named Bill Clinton was in the White House during the dot-com era when your company enjoyed a boon. The recession was brought on by the failed policies of a Republican politician who allegedly had business experience.
Then Allen dropped the not-so-veiled threat:
“Many of you have been with ASG for over 5, 10, 15, and even 20 years...I am already heavily involved in considering options that make our independence go away, and with that all of our lives would change forever...When we buy a company, we eliminate about 60 percent of the salaries of the employees of that company. If we lose our independence and get consolidated, the same thing would happen to ASG’s employees.”
In closing, vote for Mitt and have a nice day, everyone!
David Siegel, Florida’s king of timeshares, was even more in-your-face than Allen when he told his 7,000 employees who to vote for:
“My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities,” he said in an e-mail. “If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.”
It's been tough sledding during the recession, Siegel explained to his workers. He had to stop construction on his 90,000 sq. ft., $100 million “dream house” and “take his kids out of private school.”
Feel my pain, he seems to be telling the unfortunate folks who work for him, and make damn sure you vote for Romney so I don't have to pay four percent more on my federal income taxes.
The PR fallout for Allen and Siegel was devastating after their e-mails came to light, but I have no doubt there are other company leaders cynically telling employees the same thing; a vote for Obama means you're unemployed.
So much for that personal freedom the GOP is so fond of talking about.
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Kevin
Foley is president of KEF
Media Associates, an Atlanta-based producer and distributor
of sponsored news content to television and radio media. |