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Thursday, October 18, 2012

Vote Romney To Save Your Job- Time-Share Tycoon Tells Employees

David A. Siegel is king of the time-share, a "pioneer in the tourism industry" as his bio states on his website. Based out of Orlando he has 7,000 employees nationwide, 3,200 out of central Florida alone.  Because of the burden of Obamacare, some Darden Restaurants are experimenting with lowering weekly hours for workers in order to skirt the issue. Siegel, on the other hand, has gone a step further and email blasted his employees claiming that if Romney doesn't win, they might be out of jobs. 

"Even to this day, every dime I earn goes back into this company. Over the past four years I have had to stop building my dream house, cut back on all of my expenses, and take my kids out of private schools simply to keep this company strong and to keep you employed…"

[snip]

"So, when you make your decision to vote, ask yourself, which candidate understands the economics of business ownership and who doesn't? Whose policies will endanger your job? Answer those questions and you should know who might be the one capable of protecting and saving your job."

[snip]
"You see, I can no longer support a system that penalizes the productive and gives to the unproductive. My motivation to work and to provide jobs will be destroyed, and with it, so will your opportunities. If that happens, you can find me in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired, and with no employees to worry about.
"Signed, your boss."
Siegel is filthy rich, and could very well follow through with those threats, and frankly I don't blame him. He not only owns the Westgate Resorts in Central Florida, he also has resorts and hotels in cities across the country including Branson, Las Vegas, Park City, Myrtle Beach. And according to his bio, it's not just those time-share vacations he peddles that have made him wealthy, he has his hands in a bunch of other enterprises, as well.

To be fair, the economy affected his business prior to Obama taking office, but has worsened under Obama.


"Four years ago when Obama got elected we were doing a billion dollars a year in sales with 12,000 employees," he told the Orlando Sentinel. "As a result of the last four years, we are down to 7,000… We're still a viable company, but if they start taking money out of my pocket with higher taxes and ObamaCare, there's going to be less money to build resorts."

Some disgruntled employee forwarded Siegel's email to the Orlando Sentinel because he felt he was being threatened.   Yep, you could look at it that way, but it's Siegel's prerogative.  It's a private business and he can hire or fire whomever he pleases. And he can also dump his business and retire to the Caribbean. It wouldn't be the first time that happened. A bunch of people have already moved abroad taking their millions with them in anticipation of four more years of Obama.

Some say he's walking a fine line.

The state has a law called, "Threats of Employers to Control Votes of Employees," but it applies only to state, local and municipal – not federal -- elections. The Federal Election Commission referred the Sentinel to the U.S. Department of Labor. That agency was not able to respond to a late-afternoon inquiry Tuesday.

Siegel doesn't seem to care.

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