Ohio McDonald's Gives Voting Advice in Paychecks

A handful of McDonald's employees in northeastern Ohio received handbills in their most recent paychecks suggesting they vote for three Republican candidates.

"If the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels," the insert said. "If others are elected we will not."

The fast food chain's corporate headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., distanced itself from the action by Canton franchisee Paul Siegfried, saying it was not reflective of the company's position.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the Democratic elections chief, said she was launching an investigation because the action appeared to violate Ohio election laws.

Allen Schulman, an attorney representing one of the employees, said Friday he had forwarded the paycheck insert to Canton's city law director, citing state and federal laws against corporate advocacy in elections.

"It's no surprise to anyone that Ohio is a battleground state in this election, and for a multinational corporation like McDonald's to threaten employees like this is morally and legally wrong," Schulman said in a statement.

Siegfried issued an apology later Friday, emphasizing the value he places on employees and their freedom of choice in the upcoming election.

"Distributing this communication was an error of judgment on my part," Siegfried said in a statement. "Please know, it was never my intention to offend anyone. For those that I have offended, I sincerely apologize."

The handbill with a simple McDonald's logo at the top recommended votes for Republicans John Kasich for governor, Rob Portman for U.S. Senate, and Jim Renacci for Ohio's 16th congressional district. A Renacci campaign flier was also included.

Shirley Rogers Reece, general manager for the company's Ohio region, said McDonald's had no knowledge that the handbill was being distributed.

"We wholeheartedly respect diverse views and opinions, and our employees' right to vote," she said in a statement. "Our position is that every employee should make his or her own choice."

Shulman told city law director Joe Martuccio the letter was "clearly designed to intimidate, threaten and coerce a captive group of employees to vote for specific candidates at the risk of their jobs, their raises, and their benefits."

(CBS)

He called it "particularly egregious that in this time of harsh economic conditions, a corporation would stoop to this level of voter intimidation."

In her statement, Reece said that McDonald's did not endorse any of the candidates mentioned in the handbill.

"While clearly this was poor judgment, we don't believe it was intended to offend anyone," Reece said.

Kasich faces Gov. Ted Strickland in Tuesday's election. Portman is running against Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher for the open seat currently held by U.S. Sen. George Voinovich. Renacci is challenging first-term Rep. John Boccieri in one of the most closely watched congressional races in the country. Strickland, Fisher and Boccieri are all Democrats.

Brunner said her office would investigate the letter and hand off findings to the state attorney general.

"Voter intimidation is a form of voter fraud. It is a serious offense requiring a strong response," she said in a statement.

She also issued an overall warning to the state: "The election is just four days away. All involved would be best to play fair, fight hard for what they believe in and work together for all Ohioans and our country in this democratic process not enjoyed in countries elsewhere."

[payrollcardseattle]

I left a comment on McDonald's Facebook wall a couple of days ago telling them that they could avoid situations like this by using the best direct deposit payroll debit card available that I rep for and that I would re-post at that site to let other readers know what their response was if any at all and today I noticed my comment had disappeared from both their Facebook account AND mine too. I'd like to know how that happened. Did they buy off Facebook ? Has anyone seen an incident like this before where comments just disappear from 2 Facebook accounts at the same time ?

[ConfusedNOhio]

Let Me get this right It's Wrong for a Company to tell his Employees who to for . But if i fill out a Application for a Bussiness that is Unionized and get the job But refuse to join the Union i can't work there . I don't see the differnce between the two. Also How com a Union can have shirts printed saying for example Local 12 support jone for congress . If i vote and are a member of this said union and am not a voter of that party why should the be allowed to take my union dues to support any candidate. That whole BS line that we live in a free country is just that cause if you work for a company that is union shop you have to belong to the union in order to work there. Now where are the principal that i'm free in this country cause that freedom is taken away from me

[LIBERALS-lie]

Why did CBS ignore the CTA voting advice ? I am a teacher and the CTA told us who to vote for (ALL Democrats because they will raise taxes and "support" education). They even want us to make phone calls to persuade others to vote.

Why does CBS ingore this ?

CBS aka Constant Bias System ?

[netjunkie1]

This was only the beginning....fascism is growing in America....truly..makes no matter what political party is in office, as long as they have influence in it. Whenever any Corporation becomes too large to fail, it becomes a plutocracy. Fascism.
Whenever Corporate officials run for political office, they bring fascism with them. This is an inherent fact.

[sicnarfe]

Stupidly run country half-filled with stupid brain-dead zombies who will get their just desserts by voting in the Teabagging-Repug clowns on Tuesday.

[jayrh]

Do you think McDonald's will start registering dead people to vote, just like ACORN does? Libs get all out of joint when someone makes a suggestion to their employees based on the same things that the rest of America sees... The latest estimates are that Republicans will pick up at least 60 seats in the house.

[jayrh]

ACORN isn't shut down slappy... Congress voted to defund them but then a federal judge said they couldn't do that... Liberal groups do things like this... And then, there was the New Black Panther case, where everyone saw the video, but Eric Holder and the Justice Dept. declined to prosecute... And then libs complain because an employer suggests who to vote for??? There should be no question about who is really corrupt!

[kippertoo]

Come on. Voter intimidation? What are the reprecussions for NOT voting for the suggested candidates? There aren't any since the employer will never know how the employee actually voted. Why do you think our votes are PRIVATE? That being said, if there were employees that were not educated on the candidates and their platforms, it would be quite possible to influence their votes with words like 'raises' and 'benifits'.

[raleigh222]

Then why not stop the unions from telling all of it's members which candidates will most help keep their jobs safe?

[6591Hou]

and the churches

[retiredgustav]

Unions do not TELL members howto vote. We endores candidates we support them but we do not tell our memebr how to vote. Most of the time we put out comparison sheets. One thing for sure we unlike McDonalds we don't try to get them to vote agaist their own best interest.

[barbaram99]

No body has the right to tell me how I am to vote. McDONALD is clearly wrong in this matter. I vote as I see fit.

[nearl451]

What's next? Employees interrogated about their votyed and fired if they didn't vote theway their boss wanted? This is clearly illegal.