This is a story that has been getting some play in the media, including Up and Hardball. You've probably heard that it's all the rage for CEOs to tell their employees how to vote.

Well, our old pal Mittens has been caught on audio giving exactly that advice.



In a June 6, 2012 conference call posted on the anti-union National Federation of Independent Business’s website, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instructed employers to tell their employees how to vote in the upcoming election.

The call raises the question of whether the Romney campaign is complicit in the corporate attempts to influence employees' votes that have been recently making headlines. On Sunday, In These Times broke the news that Koch Industries mailed at least 45,000 employees a voter information packet that included a flyer endorsing Romney and a letter warning, “Many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences [of a bad election result], including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills.” Last week, Gawker obtained an email in which the CEO of Westgate Resorts, Florida billionaire David Siegel, informed his 7,000 employees that an Obama victory would likely lead to layoffs at his company. This week, MSNBC’s Up with Chris Hayes unveiled an email by ASG Software Solutions CEO Arthur Allen in which he, too, warned employees that an Obama second term would spell layoffs.

Audio here (26:30 for the key part):The article goes on to say that this is all perfectly legal, but it also means that Mittens is actively participating in encouraging the 1% to lean on the rabble to vote their way.

The optics on this one are poor, to say the least.

P.S. Mitt is a dick. Pass it on.

UPDATE 2:

Changed title.

UPDATE 1:

Removed - author stands by story.