The Spectacle Blog
The Heritage Foundation’s Hans A. von Spakovsky, writing in the Washington Examiner, explains how the cooperation to turn out employees of Harrah’s casinos to vote for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is illegal:
As National Review reported earlier this week, the Reid campaign sent a desperate e-mail to the senior vice president for government relations at Harrah’s Casinos asking the company to pressure its employees to get out and vote for Reid. The campaign even offered to have Reid call Harrah’s executives to help give “the backing” needed to get the company working on this.
The Reid staffer involved told Harrah’s it needed to “put a headlock” on its supervisors “to get them to follow through….”
Harrah’s did just that, getting headcounts and insisting that supervisors explain why their employees had not yet voted. They also coordinated with employee unions to get buses and shuttles to take the employees to the polls….
Harrah’s executives were apparently threatening employees who had not voted, and were coercing them to vote for a particular senatorial candidate. The obvious implication for anyone receiving these Harrah’s e-mails or having a “headlock” put on them was possible reprisals and adverse employment consequences if they did not cooperate in getting out the vote (and vote) for Reid.
The Justice Department’s handbook on election crimes for prosecutors makes clear that it is criminal to engage in “conduct intended to force prospective voters to vote against their preferences, or refrain from voting, through activity reasonably calculated to instill some form of fear.”
And does anyone think this was the only entertainment company the campaign pleaded with in this manner? The media attributed Reid’s victory to a much-heralded “ground game” — if you don’t vote, we’ll ground you into a pulp.
This can’t stay in Vegas.
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Conservative Bob| 11.5.10 @ 8:56AM
Who would have to file the complaint? Would it have to be one of the arm twisted employees? The loosing campaign? Would any resident of Nevada have standing?
Sean| 11.5.10 @ 9:06AM
Since it came from Reid's campaign Reid is accountable. Republican leadership needs to get aggressive. Remove Reid from office. Prosecute Reid. Republican boycott of Harrahs.
J Kelley| 11.5.10 @ 10:08AM
The press and establishment Republicans were quick to blame the Tea Party canidate for the loss to Reid. But it was not posible for any Republican to win against Acorn, Unions, dead voters, voters from Mexico and the army of Democrats from The Nations Capital. In other words the Democrats were going to steal this election from the beginning.The Republican would have had to win by at least 10%. A meer 40 thousand votes was easy to come up with.
WJ| 11.5.10 @ 10:48AM
I don't see anything wrong with encouraging your employees to vote for a certain candidate. I don't think Reid is that candidate, but a company should be able to explain to its employees the pros and cons of certain politicians.
For example, what an energy company in California who told its employees that a vote for Jerry Brown might end costing them their jobs?
What crosses the line (in my opinion) is when the company monitors who has voted and who has not. That is coercion.
David W| 11.5.10 @ 1:28PM
Explain Pros and Cons, yes. Encourage people to vote, yes. Ask why "you" hadn't voted yet? No. Doing anything beyond "if you vote for so and so it could cost you your job (generically speaking)" and the answer is no. Unfortunately, with the Democrats controlling the DoJ anything that is filed, regardless of the illegality of what may have been done, will be dropped just like everything else (unless you can convince them that blacks were unfairly treated).