Coal miners forced to attend Romney event and donate to campaign

On August 14, 2012, Mitt Romney held a campaign event in Beallsville, Ohio that featured coal miners as a back drop from the Century Mine. Yesterday, on WWVA talk radio, host David Blomquist read e-mails from coal miners who work for the Century Mine, which is owned by Murray Energy Corporation.

 In the e-mails, miners said that they were forced to attend the campaign rally, without pay, and had to donate to the Romney campaign. Bloomquist said that he had received several e-mails and calls to his show about the intimidation being used against them.

Blomquist interviewed Rob Moore the Chief Financial Officer for Murray Energy Corporation on his talk show to address the complaints by the miners.

David Blomquist told Moore that miners feared for their jobs if they did not attend the Romney event, and then read one of the e-mails from the miners:

“Yes, we were in fact told that the Romney event was mandatory and would be without pay, that the hours spent there would need to be made up my non-salaried employees outside of regular working hours, with the only other option being to take a pay cut for the equivalent time,” the employees told Blomquist. “Yes, letters have gone around with lists of names of employees who have not attended or donated to political events.”
“I realize that many people in this area and elsewhere would love to have my job or my benefits,” one worker explained. “And our bosses do not hesitate in reminding us of this. However, I cannot agree with these callers and my supervisors, who are saying that just because you have a good job, that you should have to work any day for free on almost no notice without your consent.”
“We do not appreciate being intimidated into exchanging our time for nothing. I heard one of your callers saying that Murray employees are well aware of what they are getting into upon hire, or that they are informed that a percentage of their income will go to political donations. I cannot speak for that caller, but this is news for me. We merely find out how things work by experience.”

CFO Rob Moore told Blomquist that the charges were untrue, and the following conversation between Moore and Blomquist took place:

Moore: “There were no workers that were forced to attend the event. We had managers that communicated to our work force that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend the event. We had a preregistration list. And employees were asked to put their names on a preregistration list because they could not get into the event unless they were preregistered and had a name tag to enter the premises.”
Blomquist: “What about not getting paid for an eight-hour day? If the mine was shut down for the visit, I understand, but wouldn’t it be fair, let’s use the word ‘fair’, to still pay these individuals for that day? I mean, it wasn’t their fault they weren’t working.”
Moore: “Our management people wanted to attend the event and we could not have people underground during Romney’s visit”.
Blomquist: “But why not still pay then their wage for that day?”
Moore: “By federal election law, we could not pay people to attend the event. And we did not want anyone to come back and see where anyone had been paid for that day.”
Blomquist: “I’m not saying pay them to attend the event, I’m saying, ‘Hey look, we have to close down the mine, if you want to attend this event, that’s fine, but you’re still going to get a day’s pay for the work that you would have done. Why not do that?”
Moore: “As a private employer, it was our decision and we made the decision not to pay the people”.
“We’re talking about an event that was in the best interest of anyone that’s related to the coal industry. I do not believe that missing an eight-hour day, when you put it into perspective, when you think about how critical this next election is, and how critical it is that we get someone in this office that supports coal, to give up eight hours for a career, I just don’t believe that there is anything negative about that.”

Robert Murray, the CEO of Murray Energy Corporation received national attention in 2009 after his Crandall Canyon Mine in Utah collapsed, leaving six miners trapped inside. Government mine inspectors had issued 325 citations against the Utah mine since January 2004, according to federal Mine Safety and Health Administration online records.

Murray is a large campaign donor for Republicans and runs a Super PAC called the Murray Energy Corporation Political Action Committee. The Super PAC has given $317,575.00 to various Republican campaigns, including Mitt Romney in 2012.

This past June, Mitt Romney spoke to the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB), and told them to threaten their employees and “make it very clear” that they must support his campaign or they could lose their jobs.

You can listen to the entire radio interview on the Huffington Post by clicking here.

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Mitt Romney: The ‘Everyday Joe’

Mitt Romney just doesn’t get it; he just doesn’t understand the trials and tribulations that American families go through every day. No matter how hard he tries to present himself as an Everyday Joe, he manages to do just the opposite, and ends up highlighting his elitism.

Then when Romney hears criticism about being distant, aloof, rich and elite, he says, “If people think that there is something wrong with being successful in America, then they better vote for the other guy”.

 But that is not the problem, the Everyday Joe doesn’t care that he’s rich and successful, what voters are looking for is someone who is able to connect with them, even when they are not rich and successful.

Every American Joe would like to be rich and successful, like Romney, but until that day comes, if it does come, Americans want a President that understands everyday “kitchen table” discussions. Not someone who’s never faced any of the problems Americans face on a daily basis, and certainly not someone who has shown that he cannot relate.

Speaking of tables, on the campaign trail in Rochester, New Hampshire, while seated with a group of possible supporters and trying to fit in as an Everyday Joe, Romney stunned them when he said, “I know what it’s like to worry whether you’re going to get fired. There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip.”

In November 2008, Mitt Romney wrote an Op-Ed for the NY Times, that liberal newspaper that Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh are always damning as they quote the paper. In the Op-Ed Romney writes about the proposed bailouts for the US Auto Industry, first by former President George W. Bush, and then President Obama after he took. The title of the Op-Ed: Let Detroit go Bankrupt

"If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye."

Back on February 1, 2012, Mitt Romney said, "I'm in this race because I care about Americans.” And then, in the very next sentence he says, but “I'm not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I'll fix it.” The same safety nets that the Republican Party seeks to eliminate; Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

Romney showed how aloof he was when he said that nothing should be done to stop foreclosures, and here in Nevada, where we have one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, that did not sit well with Nevadans. Romney will lose Nevada partly because of that statement.

''Don't try to stop the foreclosure process. Let it run its course and hit the bottom.''

Then there’s NASCAR, the Daytona 500, Romney wanted to be among the working Joe’s. Romney had dressed down, he wore no tie and wanted to enjoy a day at the races among the masses, and then he was asked by an AP reporter if he followed NASCAR. And only an out of touch elitist like Romney could have responded the way he did.

"Not as closely as some of the most ardent fans. But I have some great friends who are NASCAR team owners." Romney replied.

But it didn’t stop there; Romney commented on the attire that some fans were wearing. As Romney approached a group of fans wearing plastic ponchos as “fancy raincoats”, something that was certainly alien to him in his world, he just couldn’t help himself with his comment.

“I like those fancy raincoats you bought,” he said. “Really sprung for the big bucks.”

When it was announced on the PA system that Romney was in attendance, the crowd booed. They might have booed because of his elitism, and not being able to connect to Everyday Joe’s, or it could have been that the NASCAR cars were made in America. Remember the title of that Op-Ed: Let Detroit go Bankrupt.

Romney talks of owning several cars, he even says his wife drives two Cadillac’s, he owns many homes, he even offered a bet to Rick Perry on stage during a debate for $10,000. Mitt Romney hides his money in foreign banks that are in foreign countries, such as the Cayman Islands, Switzerland, Bermuda, Australia, Germany, Ireland, and Luxemburg. He paid 13.9% in taxes, the Everyday Joe, paid twice as much.

This is the world of Mitt Romney, not the Everyday Joe. Americans don’t care that he is rich and successful; they just wish that he could relate to the problems that they face on an everyday basis. And Romney has shown over and over that he is out of touch with ‘Real Americans”.

 

Mitt Romney during a debate says "Well, I'm not concerned about the voters"

 

 

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Romney rising, Cain dropping, Perry on life support in latest Nevada poll

This week, the Magellan Strategies polling firm, released their latest polling numbers on the republicans running for President.  The autodial survey of 673 Likely Republican Nevada Caucus Goers (LRNCG), has shown some major changes for the front runners since their last poll which was released the first week of September.

Romney, who won the Nevada caucus in 2008, would win again, if the Nevada republican caucuses were held today. But they’re not, and polls tend to change on a daily basis, based on who appears to be getting the most headlines or is talked about in the media the most that week.

Here are the latest numbers for ALL voters in the Magellan poll.

Mitt Romney: 38%

Herman Cain: 26%

Newt Gingrich: 16%

Ron Paul: 7%

Rick Perry 5%

Michele Bachmann: 2%

Rick Santorum: 1%

Jon Huntsman: 1%

In August, the poll showed Perry leading with 29%, Romney 24% and Cain with 7%.

The Magellan poll also shows the breakdown numbers for sub-categories as well; Male voters, Female voters, Senior voters, Social conservatives, Fiscal conservatives Mormon voters, Tea Party voters, and Non-2008 voters. 

Mitt Romney is leading in all the sub-categories except two, Tea Party voters, which should be no surprise because they tend to like those that are the most extreme, and Non-2008 voters. Click the links above to read the numbers in the sub-categories.