The Walt Disney Company has a reputation for lobbying hard on copyright issues. The 1998 copyright extension has even been dubbed the “Mickey Mouse Protection Act” by activists like Lawrence Lessig that have worked to reform copyright laws.

This year, the company is turning to its employees to fund some of that battle. Disney CEO Bob Iger has sent a letter to the company’s employees, asking for them to open their hearts—and their wallets—to the company’s political action committee, DisneyPAC.

In the letter, which was provided to Ars by a Disney employee, Iger tells workers about his company's recent intellectual property victories, including stronger IP protections in the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Supreme Court victory that destroyed Aereo, and continued vigilance about the "state of copyright law in the digital environment." It also mentions that Disney is seeking an opening to lower the corporate tax rate.

"With the support of the US Government we achieved a win in the Supreme Court against Aereo—an Internet service claiming the right to retransmit our broadcast signals without paying copyright or retransmission consent fees," writes Iger. "In the coming year, we expect Congress and the Administration to be active on copyright regime issues, efforts to enact legislation to approve and implement the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, tax reform, and more proposals to weaken retransmission consent, to name a few."

The source who provided the letter to Ars asked to remain anonymous, and they were bothered by the assumption that anyone who worked for Disney would agree with the company's political positions on tax, trade, intellectual property, and other matters.

"It just seems insensitive to folks that support the company but don't necessarily support all of its priorities," the source said. "Especially for something like TPP, which I view as particularly controversial. We do have a company position, but there's going to be a wide variety of opinion [within the company]."

The letter concludes with a suggested donation to DisneyPAC. Ars is not publishing the suggested amount in case it is personalized to the source's compensation or position at Disney.

"For your convenience, DisneyPAC has implemented a payroll deduction system, through which your contributions to the PAC will be deducted from your weekly paycheck," Iger explains.

The source received the letter via business mail and doesn't know how many other employees received it.

"I don't know how widely this was distributed," the source said. "Was it to rank and file folks in [theme] parks, to people working in a popcorn stand?"

Disney didn't respond to Ars' requests for comment about the fundraising letter.

Not unusual

Although Iger's letter was, in the view of this employee, somewhat tone-deaf, such requests are not illegal or even particularly uncommon. In 2012, Reuters reported on Citigroup's request to its employees to give to Citi PAC, a political entity that "contributes to candidates on both sides of the aisle that support a strong private sector and promote entrepreneurship."

US corporations are allowed to solicit political contributions as long as donations aren't coerced. The relevant law bars any "threat of a detrimental job action, the threat of any other financial reprisal, or the threat of force" when asking for donations.

The Disney letter has language explicitly reassuring employees that their jobs won't be affected by their decision whether or not to give to DisneyPAC.

"Your contribution is important to all of us, but I want to emphasize that all contributions are voluntary and have no impact on your job status, performance review, compensation, or employment," writes Iger. "Any amount given or the decision not to give will not advantage or disadvantage you."

Iger's compensation in the last fiscal year was $45 million (£32 million).

In the 2014 election cycle, the Disney employees' PAC spent about $375,000, according to OpenSecrets.org. During the current cycle with a presidential election on the way, the company will likely spend more. As of last month, the PAC had raised $295,000 and spent $231,000. The contributions are split roughly evenly between Democrats and Republicans, which is the PAC's policy according to the CEO's letter.

According to a MapLight analysis of the data, Disney's PAC contributed a total of $2.2 million in all election cycles since 2002. That doesn't include direct employee contributions to candidates, which adds another $1.5 million over the same period.

DisneyPAC fundraising letter to employees

Here's the verbatim text of most of Iger's letter to employees: