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Against Their Will

by Tim F.

Readers here have reported the same thing.

I work for a company that employs 10’s of thousands of people—mostly in red and purple states. I didn’t work the last few days of this past week—so I’m just learning about a memo they sent us that essentially tells us we could lose our jobs if HCR passes on Sunday—so we should call our representatives and tell them to vote “no.”

Please, please tell your Reps’ staff that this is going on. All Republicans have is fear, but don’t underestimate that. Fear is incredibly effective when pros wield it.

***Update***

Houstonian.

Phoned my Rep., Sheila Jackson Lee’s office again this morning. Staffer was thrilled to hear from someone for the bill and said they were being swamped with calls from people screaming at them against the bill. Reiterated that they really appreciated the call.


Phoned Solomon Ortiz’s office. He’s not my Rep, but I’ve got connections in his district, so I didn’t feel completely unreasonable calling. Told the staffer I was for the bill and the staffer was completely taken aback and said, “Wait, you’re for the bill?” I laughed and said, yes, and I asked if there was a decision from Congressman Ortiz on his vote. Staffer said Ortiz was in a meeting and nothing was certain yet (I’ve read he’s leaning Yes). I asked if they’d been getting swamped with “No” callers and staffer said yes and it was really, really nice to get a call supporting the bill, and not to be yelled at. We had a very pleasant chat.


What I took from all that is that the “Vote No” types are burning up the phone lines. Staffers are tired of being yelled at. Please call and offer support for the “Vote Yes” side. The staffers are so appreciative of it and it’s important the Yes constituents make themselves heard.

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March 20, 2010 12:28 pm Posted in: 59-41 Senate Minority, Assholes  41 Comments

41 Responses

  1. unabogie - March 20, 2010 | 12:36 pm · Link

    Tim, it should be also said that we appreciate you on this.

    What I love most about this blog is that it’s a community of passionate people who are at the same time dogged and reasonable.

    Just like our Dear Leader, President Obama.

    /O-bot

  2. arguingwithsignposts - March 20, 2010 | 12:38 pm · Link

    Fascists. Lying fascists.

  3. Violet - March 20, 2010 | 12:41 pm · Link

    I wish someone would go public with these memos. They should be posted. Large companies threatening their employees like that is at the very least unethical, if not illegal (without seeing the memo, it’s hard to know for sure).

  4. RinaX - March 20, 2010 | 12:42 pm · Link

    Thank you all for continuing to push this type of thing. It’s one of the main reasons I’ve been lurking about for the past month or so.

    OT/

    Just off the House floor moments ago, Pelosi told reporters there will be “no separate vote” on abortion or any other measure.

    And Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), a leading pro-choice progressive, said they’re moving ahead without him. “There’s not going to be any deal made with Mr. Stupak…there’s been no deal whatsoever. He’s been told that his language is not going to be added to the legislation,” she told me this morning.

    http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.....stupak.php

  5. homerhk - March 20, 2010 | 12:44 pm · Link

    all of this corrupt opposition to the bill and people still insist that this is a corporate whorish bailout of the insurance companies. it makes me wonder what world everyone else lives in.

  6. Tim F. - March 20, 2010 | 12:46 pm · Link

    @Violet: I’d like that, but it might just hurt the employees while the rich fucks who pushed these repulsive memos get off scot free.

    What I want to know is whether any employers broke the law. You can bet I will write some posts inviting people to look into it when this is over.

  7. unabogie - March 20, 2010 | 12:46 pm · Link

    @RinaX:

    Wow, that is just six flavors of awesome.

    Can I just say that I have come to love that woman?

  8. Comrade Mary - March 20, 2010 | 12:49 pm · Link

    @unabogie: You’ll have to fight me for her, unabogie. Huge, clanking ovaries on that woman, bless her.

  9. latts - March 20, 2010 | 12:49 pm · Link

    Nearly a decade ago, I worked for a smallish healthcare marketing company (basically, we did a lot of employee wellness promotions & gathered data to steer insured people to hospitals), and the CEO told us we should want more Democrats in office, because that meant more people with health insurance and therefore a bigger market for our business. He did note that he was a lifelong Republican—IMO he was also an irredeemable asshole—so that position was ironic. I thought it was an inappropriate thing to say, although most of my coworkers couldn’t understand why.

    Come to think of it, I haven’t worked for any company that would be against HCR in at least 15 years—my current job is with a tiny nonprofit & my boss’s son is uninsured with several preexisting conditions, and my job before the marketing group was a family-owned retail business that switched insurers regularly to keep costs down & kept several seriously ill employees on the books long past the time they could no longer work in order to keep their coverage.

  10. arguingwithsignposts - March 20, 2010 | 12:49 pm · Link

    @Tim F.:

    I’d like that, but it might just hurt the employees while the rich fucks who pushed these repulsive memos get off scot free.

    If the company has thousands of employees, I’d be amazed if this didn’t get out somehow. Who the hell puts that kind of stuff in writing? ... oh, wait.

  11. Onihanzo - March 20, 2010 | 12:51 pm · Link

    I’m laughing my ass off at this video. When I’m not crying.

    THE TEA PARTY & THE CIRCUS - Final Healthcare Reform Protest

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....r_embedded

  12. NobodySpecial - March 20, 2010 | 12:53 pm · Link

    Costello is an undecided at this moment.

  13. Violet - March 20, 2010 | 12:55 pm · Link

    @Tim F.:
    I’m looking forward to those posts!

    If it’s a large company, one of the employees could leak the memo with their personal info protected and it should be pretty safe for them. If they sent it to someone like you, or someone at TPM or something, it could be verified, then posted on a front page of a blog where it would be seen. That would get attention for the issue while protecting the employee.

    That’s the kind of “outing” of the situation I’d like to see. Don’t want to see any employees hurt for this issue at all.

  14. gogol's wife - March 20, 2010 | 12:58 pm · Link

    @unabogie:

    I usually don’t write “this,” but this.

  15. Sanka - March 20, 2010 | 1:00 pm · Link

    I’m just learning about a memo they sent us that essentially tells us we could lose our jobs if HCR passes on Sunday—so we should call our representatives and tell them to vote “no.”

    Yeah. You’re “just learning about it”. But I know. It really sucks when you’re employer tries to jawbone you into approving a vote on an issue that might benefit them

    Kinda like this:

    The White House Office of Health Reform Director Nancy-Ann DeParle has been feverishly sending out unsolicited email messages to federal employees in an effort to build support for President Barack Obama’s health reform package over the last several weeks.

    DeParle’s unsolicited emails have been regularly coming to some federal employees’ official government email inboxes for weeks without permission or request, causing some federal employees to feel threatened by the overt political language.

    What dou-chebags.

    Hypocrites.

  16. Chyron HR - March 20, 2010 | 1:06 pm · Link

    @Sanka:

    You’re “just learning about it”.

    I don’t think you quite understand how to use Sarcasm Quotes.

    What dou-chebags.

    Or hyphens.

  17. Fitzwili - March 20, 2010 | 1:06 pm · Link

    I just called Sheila Jackson Lee’s office( I originally hail from Culberson’s district ugghh) and they put me on speakerphone! Staffers really need some encouragement – even if you think their boss is a safe yes- call and give a shout out.

  18. demo woman - March 20, 2010 | 1:07 pm · Link

    @RinaX: Stupak scares the hell out of me.. My fingers are crossed though.

  19. unabogie - March 20, 2010 | 1:09 pm · Link

    @Sanka:

    You’re quoting a blog post from John Bolton’s press secretary as truth?

    Also, here is the quote from the email:

    No ifs, ands or buts about it—if we do nothing to reform our broken health care system, costs will continue to skyrocket and break the budgets of American families, small businesses and the Federal Government

    Do you find fault with any of that? Hell, even Paultards agree with that statement.

  20. arguingwithsignposts - March 20, 2010 | 1:11 pm · Link

    @Sanka:
    Richard Grenell served as the spokesman for the last four U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations: Zalmay Khalilzad, John Bolton, John Danforth and John Negroponte.
    Consider the source. I’ve been getting these “unsolicited” e-mails for over a week too. I suspect someone put their official e-mail in the “e-mail” field when contributing to Barack Obama or OFA.

  21. Sanka - March 20, 2010 | 1:22 pm · Link

    @unabogie: Yeah that’s great. I’d also like to colonize Mars, stop the Arabs and Israelis from fighting over land, have OBL surrender to NATO forces and for the Pittsburgh Pirates to win three sraight World Series starting in 2010.

  22. AkaDad - March 20, 2010 | 1:24 pm · Link

    @gogol’s wife:

    I usually don’t write “this,” but this.

    That.

  23. MikeJ - March 20, 2010 | 1:44 pm · Link

    @AkaDad:

    That.

    Agreed.

  24. unabogie - March 20, 2010 | 1:45 pm · Link

    @Sanka:

    The weirdest thing about the epidemic of ODS is that I can no longer differentiate between crazy lefties and crazy wingnuts.

    Nor do I ever understand their points.

    I blame Sarah Palin for making word salad acceptable.

  25. Andy - March 20, 2010 | 1:49 pm · Link

    I’m trying to get hold of Jackson Lee’s office now, but it’s busy. She’s not my rep, but she is in the area. (My rep from the 14th Texas is Ron Paul—‘nuff said.)

    I’m sure Jackson Lee is getting the full fury of the ‘baggers. She embodies everything they hate—she’s black, a woman and a liberal—and, because she works hard for her district, she’s probably on the local news as much as all other Houston-area reps combined. As a result, she’s a real lightning rod for teabagger anger.

  26. Andy - March 20, 2010 | 1:57 pm · Link

    Just got through to Jackson Lee. The gentleman who answered seemed happy to here a supportive voice.

    Now on to Gene Green.

  27. Genine - March 20, 2010 | 2:07 pm · Link

    I have to echo Unabogie’s sentiments about the efforts Tim and others have made. It feels good to work towards such a positive thing as health care reform.

    Call me an Obot, but I am glad he was elected. Yes, this reform plan is giving the health insurance companies more money but, MORE IMPORTANT, it will give people better access to health care in the interim.

    I slipped on ice, split my carotid artery, a clot formed and had a few small strokes. I still have the clot. I have to go to the doctor three days a week and I’ll be evaluated for surgery in a few weeks. Thank goodness I have health insurance even though I got laid off. Why do I have health insurance? Because the Obama administration pays 65% of my COBRA payments which makes it affordable for me to keep. If I did not have this, if McCain had been elected; I would be dead, paralyzed on my left side or homeless and bankrupt. (No joke)

    That is fucked up.

    So yes, this bill is more health insurance reform than health care reform, but at this moment health insurance is the best way for people to get the care they need…. NOW. It’s not perfect but it is WAY better than nothing. We can add to it and make it more progressive later.

    I am lucky and thankful for having the COBRA subsidy. Yes an evil insurance company is getting the money, but I am also getting the care I need.

    Let’s make sure other people can get the help they need as well.

  28. rikyrah - March 20, 2010 | 2:09 pm · Link

    thanks for this info

  29. Third Eye Open - March 20, 2010 | 2:09 pm · Link

    Allan Boyd’s phones, all of them, are ringing to message-machines, and all are full. The capital switchboard is jammed and goes to busy. Its going to be an interesting 24-hours…

  30. Latest on the Phone Calls to Congress - Jack & Jill Politics - March 20, 2010 | 2:13 pm · Link

    [...] Found this over at Balloon Juice [...]

  31. Andy - March 20, 2010 | 2:16 pm · Link

    Spoke with Gene Green’s office. Staffer was very pleasant, said the angry calls were coming in “spurts.” (Please feel free to use that in your own teabagging joke.) He said Rep. Green supports the bill “at this time,” which sounds odd, but positive.

  32. comrade scott's agenda of rage - March 20, 2010 | 2:16 pm · Link

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Fascists. Lying fascists.

    Assholes, you left out assholes.

  33. Gemina13 - March 20, 2010 | 2:32 pm · Link

    @Violet:

    I completely agree. We need a list of these companies so we can organize a boycott of them all.

  34. JD Rhoades - March 20, 2010 | 2:47 pm · Link

    Actually, my Rep., Howard Coble, called ME. Well, robo-called.

    He wanted to “reassure” me that he was doing everything he could to kill this bill.

    I thought my wife was going to throw the phone against the wall.

  35. TR - March 20, 2010 | 3:24 pm · Link

    I wasn’t going to call again, but Sanka inspired me to do so. Thanks!

  36. Pangloss - March 20, 2010 | 3:49 pm · Link

    I called my rep 9 days ago and sent an e-mail. I’m in a really close district (IL-11). Got a nice letter from my freshman Democratic representative assuring me she’s on board.

    Today, I just got a robo call for her Republican opponent in the fall sponsored by Roskam PAC. Roskam is a GOP right wing nutso in the NW suburbs of Chicago.

    May just call my rep again to let her know that I know the talking point robo calls “Trillion Dollar Democrat government takeover of Health Care” are BS.

  37. SiubhanDuinne - March 20, 2010 | 4:10 pm · Link

    @Sanka #21

    I’d also like to colonize Mars, stop the Arabs and Israelis from fighting over land, have OBL surrender to NATO forces and for the Pittsburgh Pirates to win three sraight World Series starting in 2010.

    You had me until the Pirates.

    /Braves fan

  38. SiubhanDuinne - March 20, 2010 | 4:16 pm · Link

    @Genine #27: thanks for the update on your health, and how national policy affects you at an individual level. All good wishes for successful surgery if that turns out to be required—in any case, good wishes for the best possible outcome.

  39. efgoldman - March 20, 2010 | 4:30 pm · Link

    I don’t need to call my RI guys (Pat Kennedy and Langevin). As sure a two votes as there have ever been in the house.

    The one that amazes me is Stevie Lynch from close by South Boston. He came to the state legislature from labor, has always been a down-the-line union guy, and the unions are (properly) putting a lot of pressure on him.

    http://www.boston.com/news/hea.....ider_vote/

    I just think the former Kucinich excuse (“the bill doesn’t go far enough”) simply doesn’t wash anymore. This is as good a bill as we’re going to get, right now. There won’t be a better chance in the Obama presidency, and almost certainly not after ‘12.

    (BTW: Don’t you think its about time to put “Obama” into whatever spell checker this comment system uses? Really? Shouldn’t cause red squiggles.)

  40. unabogie - March 20, 2010 | 5:03 pm · Link

    @Genine:

    Thanks, are you feeling better at all?

  41. Genine - March 20, 2010 | 5:41 pm · Link

    @unabogie:

    Yes, I am actually. Thanks! The medicine I am on makes me extremely tired, but iron is helping with that. I will be very glad when the whole thing is successfully healed and I can go back to normal.

    I’ve always been passionate about health care reform, but this new development really brought things to a new level with me. How would someone without health insurance deal with this? I was one election away from not having any and what would people do?

    To me, access to health care is a basic human right and should not be a commodity to sell like make-up, clothes and shampoo. I think that life and death is more serious than Pantene or Revlon.

    Crazy, I know.


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