Miners forced to attend Mitt Romney rally as props

[DMX7]

WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday, the Mitt Romney campaign released an ad spotlighting President Obama’s putative "War On Coal," despite a controversy in Ohio about the coal miners’ rally featured in the spot. In the ad, Romney appears on a stage before rows of hard-hatted miners, their faces smudged with coal dust, as he says, “We have 250 years of coal. Why wouldn’t we use it?”

The rally was held last month in Beallsville, Ohio, thick with miners from the Century coal mine, owned by Murray Energy, a major donor to Republican causes. Within days of the rally, Murray employees contacted a nearby morning talk radio host, David Blomquist, to say they were forced to attend the Aug. 14 event at the mine.

Murray closed the mine the day of the rally, saying it was necessary for security and safety, then docked miners their pay for those hours. Asked by WWVA radio’s Blomquist about the allegations, Murray Chief Operating Officer Robert Moore said, somewhat confusingly, "Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event."

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http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-ad-miners-rally-20120919,0,5570673.story

[LnGrrrR]

:lol This isn't really a hit against Romney, but against that stupid CEO.

[Vici]

Is it legal for a boss to make it mandatory for people to be present but not pay them?

[ChumpDumper]

Isn't fracking winning the "war" on coal?

[boutons_deux]

yes, coal is losing to NG. A coal company is closing 8 mines, including 4 in WV. Some are depleted, but demand for coal is way down domestically, so coal companies are shipping out through the West Coast to China and Asia.

[DMX7]

:lol This isn't really a hit against Romney, but against that stupid CEO.

It's a hit against both of them. Of course Mitt knew they didn't really want to be there.

[Wild Cobra]

What was it? A maximum or 20 out of several thousand miners complained?

OK... What I see from reading multiple links of this story.

1) The mine closed operations for a shift.

2) The mine required workers to still clock in to get paid.

3) Workers could go to the rally, not required.

4) workers not clocking in didn't get paid.

Now I can be wrong, but this is what it appears like to me.

[TDMVPDPOY]

mandatory and force, is the same shit?

[Wild Cobra]

mandatory and force, is the same shit?
It was only mandatory that they show up for work. They were not forced to go to the event after that.

[mouse]

Mitt Romney would make a great Miner since he knows how to dig himself in a hole.

[101A]

Is it legal for a boss to make it mandatory for people to be present but not pay them?

Only if they're salaried; hourly: Nope.

[mouse]

"Attendance was mandatory but no one was forced to attend the event."


:lmao

[RandomGuy]

Isn't fracking winning the "war" on coal?

Yes, it is.

The obvious counter is that big bad goverment is making coal too expensive somehow.

To support this, I'm sure one-sided industry propaganda will be trotted out as 100% honest truth and used to prop up the old saw that coal is the best form of energy "'cause the markets said so".

:lol Now the markets are saying something different, and it throws a monkey wrench into the normal thought processes of conservatives who are so entrenched in arguing for coal, they sort of can't really fathom that things have changed.

[Th'Pusher]

Obama is now openly mocking Romney (http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/17/14518650-obama-romney-running-around-talking-like-hes-mr-coal?lite) :rollin


Obama said voters should be skeptical of Romney’s embrace of coal, mocking him as “running around talking like he’s Mr. Coal,” as a crowd of 14,000 at Ohio University cheered him on. “Does anybody ever actually look at that guy and think, man, he’s really into coal?” Obama asked the audience as he chuckled. :lol

Obama then brought up an ad, released earlier this week, that showed Romney speaking to workers at an Ohio coal mine, saying the workers in the ad were forced to attend the August Romney event – which the mining company and some of the workers have refuted.

“Did you see when he was doing that ad, he was in front of all those guys – all these miners with hard hats. Find out later they had to come. Boss made them come. Come on, gotta be on the level if you want to be the president of the United States!” he exclaimed.Obama said voters should be skeptical of Romney’s embrace of coal, mocking him as “running around talking like he’s Mr. Coal,” as a crowd of 14,000 at Ohio University cheered him on.

[DMX7]

Mitt reminds me a bit of Sarah Palin.

[Th'Pusher]

Mitt reminds me a bit of Sarah Palin.

Is it because of his jeans?

http://img.9paw.com/images/mitt-romney-wears-mom-jeans.jpg