Voter intimidation: GOP Style

As the election draws near some of the GOP backers have been sending out some not subtle messages to their employees in an effort to deny Barack Obama a second term.

The newest attempt at voter intimidation is coming from of course none other than billionaire right wingers; Charles and David Koch, of Koch industries.

Photo By AP Photo, Koch Industries Mon, Oct 15, 2012 10:00 AM EDT

Shocking!

The evidence for this comes from a packet sent to a retiree obtained by Alternet from a Koch industries plant in Virginia. This packet contains a list of Koch approved candidates who are, surprise surprise all Republicans. The list of candidates was printed on official Koch industries letterhead and was sent with a warning:

"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 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation and other ills."

At the bottom of the letter it states: “This is a paid political advertisement by Koch Industries, Inc."

So while it's not spelled out directly, it's not a stretch of the imagination to see this letter as threatening employees with "consequences" and "other ills" like pay cuts or job losses should Obama gain a second term.

Not that they haven't kicked ass under Obama, in 2009 Koch industries reported $100 Billion in revenue (Profit numbers not published) and earned the #2 spot on Forbes "America's largest private companies" list.

But with Romney's promise of using an energy plan that was written by the oil and gas industry, the Koch's see a Romney administration as a veritable cash cow, just waiting for them to milk it for all it's worth. Which is why the Koch brothers have dumped millions into Mitt Romney's campaign super PAC.

Photo By Laruen Greenfield/Magnolia Pictures Wed, Oct 10, 2012 11:00 AM EDT

Not surprisingly, the Koch's aren't the only deranged billionaires that are threatening layoffs depending on the presidential election outcome in November.

David Siegel (pictured right on his...golden throne) is the CEO of Westgate Resort. He recently sent an email to his employees saying that:

"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."

Even though admitting that under president Obama his company is: “the most profitable [it's] ever been.” he goes on to say: "The economy doesn’t currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration."

All this from a guy who's famous for building the largest house in America and then being in a documentary about it.

I do declare.

It gets worse. It's not just CEO's threatening layoffs, but it's also voter purges, like the ones done in Florida, voter ID laws that have popped up in the states, and finally intimidation by organizations like "True The Vote." Which by the way is being investigated by Rep. Elijah Cummings for challenging primarily democratic voters. Students, African Americans, Latinos, and poor people.

Gee who's left...?

The whole point of the True The Vote campaign is to watch for and prevent "voter fraud." but with the fact that the likelihood of being struck by lightning, or seeing a UFO is much higher than people committing voter fraud, maybe they should invest in tinfoil hats instead of training a million volunteers. This reeks of a solution that is searching for a problem.

I don't understand how in a country where even in the last election which was the highest turnout since 1960, 80 million eligible people didn't even bother to vote. With so much apathy one has to wonder, if so many people don't bother to vote once, what makes you think someone would bother to vote twice? Makes no sense.

Luckily I found something about this whole situation that does make sense.

Greed. 

Romney has vowed to cut taxes for everyone by 20% while closing undisclosed "loopholes" and getting rid of the tax on interest, dividends, and capital gains, which will benefit the very wealthy. 

The rich get richer.

Billionaires like the Koch brothers and David Siegel are almost salivating at the thought of the millions they will save from paying a lower tax rate. I wish someone would ask them why the fuck they need another tax cut. It's not as if they can't afford a golden throne.

Or a car elevator.