Political harassment in corporate emails...I'm disgusted!

[Wildflower Fever]

The text below in quotations is from an email I received today through work. I've obviously removed all information that would identify this person and our organization, but I wish to state that it's from our Vice President of Sales. And this is not a small company, it's a billion dollar corporation that I'm sure most of you have heard of. I love my job, and for the most part I like the people I work with. However, even If I tried to disregard my liberal political views, I would still be offended by the lack of ethics in sending this email to the entire sales group. It seemed particularily classless, and I have to say despite the fact I knew this person to be conservative, I was still stunned by this action. Does anyone know if this is even legal? I've researched it today and found that it most likely is, regardless of how unethical. I just thought I'd share the little nugget that knocked the wind out of me today.

FYI: I must point out that he did not write this, but had forwarded it to us. At least I hope that's true judging by the vast array of grammatical and spelling errors...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE OBAMA BRAINWASH:

"The time for the truth to come out has arrived. Draw your own conclusions but the facts were let out by CNN
this week, Barrack Obama is a Socialist, whose agenda is to drastically change America. His coterie of friends Saul Alinsky, Rev Wright, Bill Ayres, George Soros, Father Pfleger want to bring this nation down and make us subservient to the UN . CNN, the liberal news media Reported THIS , this week ,not the fox network. His agenda is to move to the center to get elected. He does not believe in fundamental Americanism. Look at his symbol on his campaign advertising. He is using the personality of cult, a principle of all communist and Marxists governments to win over the disenchanted. He is no different than the inept Congress of the last 2 years but is worse. He has promised everything to everyone under the guise of helping the middle class. If that was the case of helping the middle class why isn't Chicago's economy booming if he is so talented. He had no economic ideas other than redistribution of wealth. The foundation in Chicago that he distributed money from, went right to William Ayers educational agenda. Not reading ,writing, and arithmatic but one that is purely marxism -socialism. Terroism is Terroism whether
domestic bombing of the Pentagon by William Ayers or the bombing of the world trade center by Al Qaeda.

The Clinton campaign underestimated his propaganda, and the psychological operation is being used against the American people. Bill Clinton was right about this campaign being the biggest fairytale going. It his fairytail and he has mesmerized the young. It's time for the silent majority and the levelheaded to advise their children and grandchildren. His campaign has moved beyond the basics of the Democratic or Republican party to a Socialist agenda, wrapped in an agenda of serving the middle class. His campaign as the uniter really has all the makings of dividing this country by playing the blame game and placing a guilt complex for those who do not agree with his beliefs. This is the pure Machiavellian power play. He couches it in change and guilt.

We don't need him as our President. We can change without him. His subtle and secretive agenda is right in front of us. Just look into his background, where he gets his funding, how money is funding his internet campaign ,which is getting around the campaign funding laws. This money is coming from radical groups who see their chance for power. It is also coming from outside the country.

It's "We the People" not Obama's agenda of I the People. Our forefathers fought against Taxation in 1776 and voted for free enterprise. They never differentiated from the rich and poor.We again have the opportunity to vote against taxation and for free enterprise not for socialism. Spread the word if you believe in our system of Democracy and free enterprise.
You owe it to yourself and your families. Your vote this year will determine our future. If you have been silent,
inform the unknowing. You'll be doing them a favor. Pass this along if you wish. As Kate Smith would say, God Bless America. The Flyers are back."

[Amy in Vermont]

Was this sent via the company's email system?

I would contact HR, personally, and lodge a harassment complaint.

Legal - sure, unless you work for a religious non-profit.
Objectionable? You bet!
Ethical? Not in my book.
Actionable? What does the company's policy say? A company that big should have very clear acceptable use guidelines for its IT resources.

..and....

I would reply back to him and correct the spelling and syntax in bold red letters! Just ecause you can..

A

[coffeegyrl]

How about some fact-checking to go along with the spelling and syntax corrections?

[Wildflower Fever]

Was this sent via the company's email system?

I would contact HR, personally, and lodge a harassment complaint.

Legal - sure, unless you work for a religious non-profit.
Objectionable? You bet!
Ethical? Not in my book.
Actionable? What does the company's policy say? A company that big should have very clear acceptable use guidelines for its IT resources.

..and....

I would reply back to him and correct the spelling and syntax in bold red letters! Just ecause you can..

A

Yes, this was unbelievably sent through our VPN network, to over a hundred individuals. This man is head of the entire national sales network, but he is kind of old school, and I wouldn't be surprised if he thought he was "above the law" in this instance. I know our IT policies are quite strict, and we are constantly trained on other ethical issues like sexual harrassment. The problem? Well, I hate to look like a spineless worm, but in this economic climate I'd hate to blacklist myself or poison my working environment. As an at-will employee, I could basically be fired simply for my political beliefs through a back-door reasoning process. I also know most of my regional associates, and it seems as though this company is about 90% or better republican. Many of us have had in-depth discussions about politics, and now I'm leaning toward never doing so again. :eek:

[Bat]

Are you certain, for sure, that this individual did in fact send this poison dart?
It might have come from his office, and might not be condoned by the boss at all. I'd print a copy and remove all names, say you got it in the daily email, and anonymously put it in the top CEO's line of sight...physical mailbox, or whatever means you can get away with. Put it upstairs where it belongs, (and you shouldn't have any connection with it;(wear gloves, don't lick the envelope, etc. :) )

[Amy in Vermont]

Ooooh... Bat.. I would not go NEAR the CEO with anything. I would go straight to HR and make my feeling known, even if there is nothing actionable. They may do nothing. But if they choose to do something, and it somehow comes back to bite you, at least YOU didn't cross any ethical lines. They should be able to do this and maintain confidentiality.

Or, you can do nothing, and take comfort in knowing the guy is an unscrupulous *******....

[Chet]

The political harassment is not from the company, but from an individual, someone in senior management, who should know better than to mis-use and abuse the company email for such things. Forwarded emails that have nothing to do with the company or the business it's in is a NO-NO.

Yes, agree with Amy - lodge a complaint with your HR Department. That's what they're there for.

[Wildflower Fever]

Are you certain, for sure, that this individual did in fact send this poison dart?

99.9% certain. However, the only other op-ed email I've seen from him in a years time was at the beginning of the fuel price surge crisis. At that time, he advocated the idea of a day of gas abstinence to "stick it to the oil companies.":rolleyes: He also couldn't avoid pointing out Citgo's connection to Hugo Chavez and Venezuela, you know, because he's the devil.:rolleyes:
Thus, I have no problem believing he thinks this is no big deal, just like he probably pats his female assistant on the ass and calls her toots.

[Bat]

I really think he crossed the line with that email...yes, make sure the HR dept knows about it, maybe if a few others would tell them too it would help. Try to stay as under the radar as possible, of course.

[DaveM]

People of this mindset are so good at identifying themselves....it almost seems a shame not to turn him in some way or other. The difficulty, however, may well lie not in the guy's abuse of the e-mail system, but in whether the person you complain to shares his political views.

The current crop of Republicans seems to have few qualms about showing their true colors, even though those are very dirty colors indeed. Even John McCain has asked people to back off on rubbish like the e-mail quoted. Of course, it's relatively easy for him to ask for such things, since he knows he won't have to refuse to accept their votes come Election Day.

The intensity with which this sort of garbage has come out of the woodwork during the past two weeks strongly suggests to me that the Republicans (or at least the more right-wing element of same) is desperate, and is realizing that they are about to lose.

[Wildflower Fever]

People of this mindset are so good at identifying themselves....it almost seems a shame not to turn him in some way or other. The difficulty, however, may well lie not in the guy's abuse of the e-mail system, but in whether the person you complain to shares his political views.

The current crop of Republicans seems to have few qualms about showing their true colors, even though those are very dirty colors indeed. Even John McCain has asked people to back off on rubbish like the e-mail quoted. Of course, it's relatively easy for him to ask for such things, since he knows he won't have to refuse to accept their votes come Election Day.

The intensity with which this sort of garbage has come out of the woodwork during the past two weeks strongly suggests to me that the Republicans (or at least the more right-wing element of same) is desperate, and is realizing that they are about to lose.

I agree about their desperation. You'd be glad to know I found a simple way to defuse these knuckleheads in light of the past weeks events. Another work associate said he couldn't help but notice democrats claim to be about peace and love, yet their protests tend to involve some kind of violence or vandalism. I didn't have time to go into the issue of police infiltrating these groups and sometimes even inciting the illegal acts themselves to discredit peaceful marchers. Alas, maybe another day. This day I defused his rhetoric by reminding him of the behavior of McCain/Palin supporters calling Obama a terrorist and even chanting "kill him!" Not to mention the idiot in Lakeville, MN who said she had a question when she really just wanted to point out that Barack is an arab.:rolleyes: At that same rally, a MN man posited that he "feared Obama becoming president." Imagine that, the tough guy republican party espousing so much fear over little old Obama. The final dagger I dealt my co-worker was to ask him, what does the phrase "give me liberty or give me death" mean to him? I then delivered the coup de grace by pointing out his party was the party of fear and hate, and that the people I know in my party take the aforementioned phrase more seriously. I would rather risk the possibility of death by terrorist than to see our rights further eroded, and that made me a true patriot. He then said he had to go.:D

[Dee]

Spam mail is garbage. And so was this one.

[Judy]

I recently quit working for a very large nationwide company and I'm real sure this over the line. Giant companies are way too concerned about HR based lawsuits to condone this sort of mailing. I think Amy is on track in suggesting you contact HR...I'd seriously doubt that they would dismiss you on this.

[DaveM]

This is a bit off-topic, but....

I don't have the benefit of having seen as many elections as some of you. I vaguely recall both Nixon campaigns, but read about his "enemies list" and the like as history. I remember Ronald Reagan campaigning as if he were performing in a 50s B movie, always hinting that anyone who didn't vote for him was a Communist or the like.

But I have NEVER in my life seen a campaign as dirty and full of outright fiction as this one. Were this anything other than an election campaign, all of the major candidates would have more than good cause to file multiple lawsuits for libel and slander--especially those on the Democratic side of the aisle. Barack Obama is not an American, is Muslim (as if this would be a problem) and hangs out with terrorists? Oh, and he never went to college or else he went but in order to do so, was paid $100 million by the Iranians. Sheesh.

The Internet has always been full of garbage and political garbage in particular. But this year the garbage is also in the newspapers, on the radio, and on television--and by no means only reported by the fringe segment which routinely circulates such crap. And a certain number of people appear to believe it.

The last I find especially frightening. This may well end up being the first election in American history to be decided by conspiracy theory nuts. They would have it that Barack Obama in particular would bring about some radical regime which would sell the United States to the U.N. (or whoever--there are several versions circulating). This sort of thing is good for a laugh. Not nearly so funny is the obvious fact that the "X-Files" belief system, once a rather entertaining prop for a TV show, has become a part of what passes for American political thought.