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CEO Asks Employees to Help Company ‘and Yourself’ by Donating $2,500 to Romney
Think Progress / News Report
Published: Sunday 21 October 2012
“The show reported last week that Arthur Allen of ASG Software Solutions emailed his employees that they’d only have themselves to blame if they lose their jobs after Obama wins.”
A growing number of CEOs are pressuring their employees to vote for Mitt Romney, whose tax cut plan could offer millionaires an $87,000 tax break. Now, MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes, has uncovered at least one executive who called on his employees to donate up to $2,500 to the GOP presidential candidate’s campaign.
The show reported last week that Arthur Allen of ASG Software Solutions emailed his employees that they’d only have themselves to blame if they lose their jobs after Obama wins. But Allen sent another email on the eve of the Republican convention soliciting donations for the former Massachusetts governor:
To all ASG domestic employees,
This coming Monday, Mitt Romney will be officially nominated as the Republican Presidential candidate. I am encouraging everyone to go to the Romney for President web site and contribute as much as you can to his campaign for President, up to the maximum of $2500.00 per person. I am also encouraging you to contact all of your friends and relatives and ask them to support Romney and to go to the polls and vote on Election Day.
ASG, like many companies, is still struggling, even after 4 years. You probably heard that we tripped a bank leverage covenant on June 30th, and now must go through yet another round of unfavorable treatment by our lenders. Many of our domestic employees are still on the 4 day work week. Many of our customers are waiting until they see the results of the election before beginning to invest again. We need to elect a fiscally conservative President and Vice-President and stop this ridiculous government spending. I believe that Romney and Ryan can put us back on the path to sanity, but even then it is not going to be painless for our country and ASG.
Please help ASG and yourself by contributing to the Romney/Ryan campaign.
Mr. Allen
Romney had called on employers to “make it very clear” how they feel about the candidates. During a call with the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) first discovered by In These Times, Romney told business owners to “pass… along to your employees” how their jobs might be affected by who wins in November.
After heeding Romney’s advise Allen sent another email asking employees to defer “some or all” of their salary “until December, in order to help the company make a $15 million interest payment.”
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By Tara Culp- Ressler
4 comments on "CEO Asks Employees to Help Company ‘and Yourself’ by Donating $2,500 to Romney"
October 22, 2012 7:53am
But God help any union that urges political support, eh? What blatant extortion.
October 22, 2012 1:23am
Not for nothing but, of course you humans from the US are going to take it sitting down. You have been now for decades so why change? You've allowed your government to spin totally out of control and have yet to do anything about it.. The 'wars of choice', enormous lack of economic growth, corporate bail-outs, the war on drugs (another failed prohibition), too big to fail banks...
The list goes on and on and it's rather painful to watch actually. Even the 1% is in for a rude awakening for what is coming even they cannot insulate themselves. All of it has been totally preventable but for a population that sits about doing nothing.
October 21, 2012 2:31pm
I guess being a CEO requires you to be a bully, so who else would you endorse but fellow-bully Mitt Romney?
This is all very disheartening. I've read past accounts of how Communist Party leaders in China (and Nazi Party leaders in pre-war Germany) bullied their members to follow a party line, and now we see the same kind of bullying going on in corporate America. If I was the target of such bullying in a corporation, I'd vote the opposite of what they told me, just on the general principle that they have no right telling me who to vote for. My vote should be my own decision, not anyone else's.
It's truly shameful. I guess "power" does corrupt those without principles.
October 21, 2012 12:48pm
Too bad we have had fiscal conservatives in the White House and all they did was destroy the economy. This last "conservative" managed to start two wars of choice and brought down the global economy. Do we really want another conservative?
In reality, the 47% should not invest in anything until sanity prevails in government. No 401(k), no Roths, no stocks, nothing. These things do not benefit you one iota under our current system. Save your money in mason jars in your backyard or buy bonds. The whole objective of this "letter" is to hold the US and every non-1%-er hostage. Are we going to take this sitting down?