CEOs Against Obama

Koch Brothers
Koch Industries

Billionaires David (left) and Charles Koch (right), two brothers at the helm of Koch Industries, have been major donors of Republican candidates and conservative causes. They have sent out mailing to all 45,000 employees of Koch Industries’ Georgia-Pacific subsidiary encouraging them to vote for Mitt Romney.

Excerpts from the mailing:

“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.”

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Jack Welch
Former CEO of General Electric

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the unemployment rate fell to 7.8% in September from 8.1% in August. Five minutes after the BLS release, Welch tweeted: "Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can't debate so change numbers." His tweet suggested the numbers were manipulated because of the President's poor debate performance in Denver. His tweet has generated quite a bit of controversy. To clarify his "gut feelings," he wrote an op/ed in The Wall Street Journal entitled "I Was Right About That Strange Jobs Report."

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Steve Wynn
Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Wynn Resorts

Wynn says the Obama administration's policies have directly resulted in American business leaders sitting on their bankrolls rather than investing in projects that would create jobs. He told a Nevada television host that he passed on a $2 billion project that could have created as many as 35,000 jobs because he's "afraid of the President," adding that every business guy Wynn knows is "frightened of Barack Obama and the way he thinks."

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Leon Cooperman
Founder and Chairman/CEO of Omega Advisors

In November 2011, Cooperman issued an open letter President Obama. He argued that “the divisive, polarizing tone of your rhetoric is cleaving a widening gulf, at this point as much visceral as philosophical, between the downtrodden and those best positioned to help them.” He added that to "frame the debate as one of rich-and-entitled versus poor-and-dispossessed is to both miss the point and further inflame an already incendiary environment.”

Read the letter >

David Siegel
Founder, President and CEO of Westgate Resort

Siegel recently sent a an email to his employees saying that if President Obama is re-elected and raises taxes, he would likely lay off workers and downsize his company or shut the business down altogether.

"If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company," he wrote. "Rather than grow this company I will be forced to cut back. This means fewer jobs, less benefits and certainly less opportunity for everyone."

Read the entire email >

Donald Trump
Chairman and President of The Trump Organization

Trump also dismissed the latest unemployment numbers and charged that the figures were cooked. He told Fox News that he agreed with Welch’s tweet, in which he accused “these Chicago guys” of changing the numbers.

Watch the video >

Stephen Schwarzman
Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of The Blackstone Group

In August 2010, speaking before the board of an unnamed charity in what he thought was a private meeting, Schwarzman compared President Obama's plan to raise carried interest taxes to Hitler's invasion of Poland in 1939. He later apologized for this comment.

Anthony Scaramucci
Founder of SkyBridge Capital

At a panel about government policies at the Milken Institute's Global Conference in May 2012, Scaramucci stated that "the President was a disaster and moving America towards socialism," and President Obama "believes in society with a bigger federal government" which is on a path to become "state controlled society" by governmental wealth redistribution.