Replies to post #185838 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

BOREALIS .. Romney Supporter Sums Up Campaign's Attitudes Towards
Working Americans [ .. 2 bits, + insert .. basically to link ]

[...]

Romney campaigned with Bob Murray, CEO of the company, back in May.

Murray Energy is perhaps best known for operating the Crandall Canyon mine in Utah that collapsed in 2007, killing six miners and two rescue personnel. After that tragedy, reporters uncovered thousands of violations resulting in millions of dollars in fines at various mines owned by the company.

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Insert: Of course, Murray's role in all this is much darker than that of the compassionate boss given to delivering script-ready lines like, "Conditions are the most difficult I have seen in my 50 years of mining" and "There are many reasons to have hope still" (as he has been quoted saying in two other Times stories).

He is a politically-connected Big Energy player whose company, Murray Energy Corp., has 19 mines in five
states, which have incurred millions of dollars in fines for safety violations over the last 18 months.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/why-are-the-new-york-time_b_60412.html?
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[...]

It is a much-needed pre-election glimpse into the America Romney wants to create. And while workers can obviously be forced to listen to their BS lets hope they will refuse to be forced to do one thing for Romney. Vote for his sorry ass.

http://www.hillbillyreport.org/diary/4121/romney-supporter-sums-up-campaigns-attituded-towards-working-americans

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=79076379

[BOREALIS]

Obama ad hits Romney's use of miners forced to serve as unpaid prop

Tue Oct 02, 2012 at 03:15 PM PDT
by Laura Clawson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=-GBGIFdahSo

Mitt Romney's campaign stop at a Murray Energy coal mine in Ohio continues to haunt him. Romney thought coal miners made such a good backdrop for his speech there that he even used the footage in an ad attacking President Obama [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/19/1133915/-Romney-ad-features-miners-forced-to-lose-pay-during-mandatory-attendance-at-Romney-event?detail=hide ] as insufficiently pro-coal, only to have it turned back on him in an Obama ad using the exact same footage. Given that by the time Romney's ad aired, it had been widely reported that the miners had lost half a day's pay to attend the event, which their boss had told them was mandatory, it's kind of amazing Romney went there to begin with, but he did, and he's paying.

First Romney got hit with a slew of headlines [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/20/1134307/-Headlines-about-Romney-coal-ad-focus-on-miners-forced-to-serve-as-unpaid-prop-at-Romney-speech?detail=hide ] focusing not on his ad's message but on how those miners got there, their jobs in the mine shut down for Romney's visit, their ability to earn a wage taken from them for those hours in which they were still required to be at the mine, listening to Romney. Now, the Obama campaign is using the footage to highlight that Romney is "not one of us."

That's not a hard point to make. What would Mitt Romney know about being forced by the boss to take unpaid time off to attend a political event? In his own career, he was the boss. And now, he thinks the Murray Energy miners have "a great boss" in Bob Murray, [ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/28/1125040/-Romney-tells-miners-you-ve-got-a-great-boss-That-boss-made-them-lose-pay-to-listen-to-Romney?detail=hide ] who not only set up this event but who has in the past lied about the company's actions leading up to a fatal mining accident and who is a fierce opponent of improved safety regulations. Mitt Romney identifies with and would govern for the Bob Murrays of the world. That means he's for damn sure not part of any "us" that has to work for a living.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/02/1138926/-Obama-ad-hits-Romney-s-use-of-miners-forced-to-serve-as-unpaid-prop

[BOREALIS]

Workers told to write Romney checks by coal CEO who made miners serve as Romney backdrop

Thu Oct 04, 2012 at 01:20 PM PDT
by Laura Clawson for Daily Kos Labor



The coal miners forced to serve as an unpaid backdrop for a Mitt Romney campaign appearance
[ http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/19/1133915/-Romney-ad-features-miners-forced-to-lose-pay-during-mandatory-attendance-at-Romney-event?detail=hide ] aren't the only Murray Energy employees who have to support their boss's favored Republican candidates, it turns out. Salaried workers, who don't make such picturesque, coal-covered backdrops, but who earn more money, are expected to write checks and attend the boss's political fundraisers. The pressure is not subtle, [ http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/108140/coal-miners-donor-mitt-romney-benefactor?page=0,0 ] Alec MacGillis reports:

Internal Murray documents show just how upset Murray becomes when employees fail to join the giving. In missives, he cajoles employees to attend fund-raisers and scolds them when they or their subordinates do not. In cases of low participation, reminders from his lieutenants have included tables or spreadsheets showing how each of the eleven Murray subsidiaries was performing. And at least one note came with a list of names of employees who had not yet given. “What is so difficult about asking a well-paid, salaried employee to give us three hours of his/her time every two months?” Murray writes in a March 2012 letter. “We have been insulted by every salaried employee who does not support our efforts.” He concludes: “I do not recall ever seeing the attached list of employees .?.?. at one of our fund-raisers.”

That's yielded big money for Republican candidates—more than $2 million in recent years, and $120,000 to Romney. But not everyone contributing is doing so willingly, and some feel that bonuses are at stake:

At the time of hiring, supervisors tell employees that they are expected to contribute to the company PAC by automatic payroll deduction—typically 1 percent of their salary, a level confirmed by a 2008 letter to employees from the PAC’s treasurer. (That letter also assures employees that they would not be “disadvantaged” by not giving.) Employees are given a form to sign, explaining that the giving is voluntary.

Riiight ... and if you were told by your supervisor that you were expected to give money as part of your new job, how voluntary would you feel that was, no matter what the piece of paper said? Murray Energy's lawyer says it's all done legally, it's just that CEO Bob Murray is personally enthusiastic about the candidates, and absolutely no bonuses are on the line:

McKown says the two sources who suggest generous employees get bigger bonuses are just wrong. “It’s Mr. Murray’s view of what the employee’s contribution was to the company that month,” he says.

I mean, why would you suspect illegal pressure or reimbursement-by-bonus just because the CEO who sends around memos saying it's an insult when employees don't give to his candidates is the same CEO who makes monthly bonus decisions?

But Mitt Romney is only too happy to cash those checks, just as he stood in front of miners who'd had the opportunity to earn their pay taken from them in order to be forced to listen to Romney and told them they had a great boss.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/04/1140137/-Workers-told-to-write-Romney-checks-by-coal-CEO-who-made-miners-serve-as-Romney-backdrop