Wheel of Cuts at Emerson: No Takers at Lunchtime "Fundraiser" for Rep. Todd Akin

If you've read the St. Louis Post-Dispatch coverage of the Missouri Senate race, you've heard about the appalling letter from Emerson Electric Co. CEO David Farr to his employees, 'encouraging' them to give generously to the campaign coffers of Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO).

Since tonight is the night of the big fundraising shindig, it seemed like a great day to go to Emerson's Headquarters in North County and talk with workers there directly. As reported in Political Fix, CEO David Farr will be rewarding Emerson employees that write a hefty check to the Akin campaign ($5000 or more!) with an intimate dinner with the boss after the event.

When he wrote the letter, he may not have expected as much attention to the offer. But for a group of St. Louis activists, reading about it wasn't enough. This morning, they sent over a tongue-in-cheek invitation to Farr, offering to lend a helping hand to the collection efforts:

With 2010 earnings such as yours, it is understandable why you're so committed to putting Todd Akin in the U.S. Senate. His positions have reliably favored CEOs over the interests of middle class workers and the poor. CEOs and Wall Street bankers can sleep a little easier knowing that Todd Akin is in their corner, even if it means the vast majority of his constituents get left behind.

Many of your employees are probably busy this week getting their kids ready for back to school and may have run short of time before tonight's Ladue fundraiser. So to help ensure that as many Emerson workers as possible are able to chip in to Todd Akin's election war-chest, a group of volunteers will come by at lunch time to help personally collect funds for the Senate race.

A collection box was set up so that workers could donate their paychecks to Todd Akin, but there weren't any takers. Instead, workers on their lunch hour just stopped to take a flyer for more information. One put it this way: "I'll take your flyer but I'm not giving him my paycheck!" For Emerson employees concerned about a long record of policies that hurt middle-class workers, including Rep. Akin's outspoken support for Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare, the group brought a special carnival game.

The "Wheel of Cuts" lets the player spin to select just one of the critical public services that would be slashed if Akin has his way. But just like in the Ryan budget, CEOs' pay are bonus spaces--Akin is, after all, working for the David Farr's of the world, not the middle- class voters of Missouri's Second District.