Billionaire Koch brothers send 45,000 employees letter telling them to vote for Romney

David and Charles Koch are well-known Republican supporters

Letter comes after two other CEOs sent similar notes disparaging Obama



Thousands of employees at companies owned by billionaire Republican fundraisers were told to vote for Mitt Romney in packet mailed to them warning of the dangers of an Obama re-election.

The mailer is easily traced back to David and Charles Koch, the notorious multi-billionaire brothers who have largely financed the Tea Party movement and served as effective Romney bundlers.

In These Times released excerpts from a letter sent to 45,000 employees at Georgia Pacific- a Koch-owned paper company based in Washington state- that was signed by the company's CEO Dave Robertson.



This is the third time in the past week that the head of a major corporation sent out a letter pressuring employees to vote for Romney in the upcoming election.



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Brothers in charge: Charles (left) and David Koch (right) have supplied billions in political funding to conservative Republican candidates and have now told their employees who to vote for

'While we are typically told before each Presidential election that it is important and historic, I believe the upcoming election will determine what kind of America future generations will inherit,' the letter reads.

It goes on to say that the dangers that loom with the wrong presidency would include 'unprecedented regulatory burdens on businesses' and threaten 'many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences, including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills'.

The excerpts from the letter show that while the CEO never explicitly said that Obama would be the one to cause said ills, the point is made very clear by the inclusion of a list of Koch-supported candidates. Needless to say, Obama did not make the list.



The letter says that the list comes at the request of 'many employees' who wanted to know what state and local politicians are supported by 'Koch companies or by KOCHPAC, our employee political action committee'.

Famous friends: Mitt Romney is seen shaking David Koch's (tallest on left) hand at the Republican National Convention

The full text of the letter- and of the supporting list- were not made public by In These Times, but the site reports that in addition to Mitt Romney, 14 other Republican state politicians were highlighted.

Though the cover letter was signed by Mr Robertson, the driving force was explicitly clear: an anti-Obama editorial penned by Charles Koch and a pro-Romney editorial by his brother David were included in the packets.

WHAT IT SAID: LETTER EXCERPTS

While we are typically told before each Presidential election that it is important and historic, I believe the upcoming election will determine what kind of America future generations will inherit.

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

At the request of many employees, we have also provided a list of candidates in your state that have been supported by Koch companies or by KOCHPAC, our employee political action committee.

We believe any decision about which candidates to support is—as always—yours and yours alone, based on the factors that are most important to you. Second, we do not support candidates based on their political affiliation.

Exerting such pressure on employees was not always legal, but recent Supreme Court decisions no longer prohibit companies from telling their employees who to vote for.

For appearances sake, however, the letter did include one line gesturing towards partiality: 'We believe any decision about which candidates to support is—as always—yours and yours alone, based on the factors that are most important to you.'

Longtime Koch Industries employees are likely familiar with the move, as workers at the same Georgia Pacific plant received a similar packet two years ago during the midterm elections.



At the time, then-COO Mr Robertson wrote that 'as Koch company employees, we have a lot at stake in the upcoming election'.



The letter was published in its entirety by The Nation and one of the sheets included voter registration deadline information and also a list of all Koch-supported politicians. On the list of 19 candidates, all but four were Republicans.



One current employee who received the packet said that it is just one of the ways that the Koch brothers are exerting undue influence on their workers.



'They are destroying the planet. They are trying to buy the votes. They think they are so high and mighty. They have their principles. They just think their way is the only way and they think everyone else is wrong,' the man told In These Times. He spoke anonymously for fear of being fired.

'If you don't believe in their philosophy, you can find a job somewhere else. I have worked there for 30-plus years. I have no training; I have worked in a factory. What am I going to do?'



This is the third time in a week where an influential CEO warned his employees about the prospect of an Obama win come November.

Gawker published the letter written by Westgate Resorts owner David Siegel where he clearly said that if Romney won the presidential election, they would be more likely to keep their jobs.

Well financed: Charles (left) and David (right), seen here in 1970, are now ranked as the fourth and fifth wealthiest Americans respectively with personal net worth of $31billion

'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. Of course, as your employer, I can't tell you whom to vote for, and I certainly wouldn't interfere with your right to vote for whomever you choose,' he wrote.

Prosperity: David Koch, pictured, and his brother were major funders of the Americans for Prosperity, a group that helped finance Republicans in the 2010 midterm elections

MSNBC's Chris Hayes reported that Arthur Allen, the CEO of Florida-based ASG Software Solutions, sent an email to more than 1,000 employees saying that the company needs a new administration to remain 'independent' in order to keep from cutting costs and firing employees.



'I can tell you, if the US re-elects President Obama, our chances of staying independent are slim to none,' he wrote.



'If we fail as a nation to make the right choice on November 6th, and we lose our independence as a company, I don't want to hear any complaints regarding the fallout that will most likely come.'



When it comes to the Kochs, the brothers prefer to remain behind the curtain rather than in the spotlight.

As a result, no members of the press were invited to their seaside $50,000-per-plate fundraiser for Romney in their Hamptons home this July.

There was a brief break in that privacy lately, however, as their other brother William now faces a lawsuit after he allegedly held a former employee hostage for two days.