Chris Conry, Your Vote or Your Job? A New Low in Corporate Electioneering
SuperPACs are old news. As we near November 6th, the trendsetters in corporate electioneering are drafting a disturbing new tool: a letter from the boss. 
A growing number of C.E.O.s are setting pen to paper to warn their employees of the dire consequences of voting for President Obama. Some, such as David A. Siegel, the head of Westgate Resorts, have resorted to outright threats writing, “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.”
While election year bullying is nothing new, these letters are having unexpected impacts on places and people in Minnesota.
On August 21st Georgia Pacific announced it would close its woods product plant in Duluth. Workers there manufactured a hard board wood that is used in car interior components like visors and rear shelves. For decades these jobs had been a livelihood for 141 people and their families. On October 19th they picked up their last paycheck.
This closing has been a hardship for these families and the City of Duluth. It is one in a series of six large wood-manufacturing plants to close in Minnesota in the last 5 years. These are painful changes in an important industry in Minnesota.
Given this turmoil, Georgia Pacific’s October 1st letter from the boss seemed particularly tin-eared. In the letter employees are warned that if the wrong candidates are elected “many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences”. The letter’s impact has been mixed.
Employees of the plant have been standing up for themselves. Others, like Rep. Chip Cravaack, have been silenced.
The letter itself is penned by Dave Robertson, the President and Chief Operating Officer of Georgia Pacific’s parent company, Koch Industries, Inc. Yes, it’s that Koch Industries, the one owned by David and Charles Koch, the billionaire financiers of numerous right-wing efforts, including Rep. Cravaack’s 2012 election bid.
While other Members of Congress and the state’s Lieutenant Governor have met with the workers and voiced their concerns, Rep. Cravaack has been noticeably silent. Though workers have been asking for his support, he has refused to speak out publicly.
Rep. Chip Cravaack isn’t standing up for jobs for Minnesotans. No, his agenda is tax breaks for millionaires. From the beginning of his term to the present day, Rep. Cravaack has consistently and publicly called for the renewal of the Bush Tax Breaks for the richest 2%, cuts that would benefit Dave Robertson, David Siegel, and David Koch.
There are 141 workers in Duluth who no longer work for the Koch Brothers. Unfortunately, their Congressman still does.
Chris Conry
Chris Conry is TakeAction Minnesota’s Economy Program Manager.
