This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Timeshare mogul David Siegel — whose Westgate Resorts empire includes a site in Park City, Utah — has sent a cheery message to his employees: A vote for Barack Obama is a vote for losing your job.
Here are Siegel's exact words, from an email Siegel sent to employees Monday (and was reprinted by the celebrity site Gawker): "In spite of all of the challenges we have faced, the good news is this: The economy doesn't currently pose a threat to your job. What does threaten your job however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration."
After a long discourse on the economy, the Obama administration's tax policies and Siegel's backstory as a self-made billionaire, Siegel adds this kicker: "If any new taxes are levied on me, or my company, as our current President plans, I will have no choice but to reduce the size of this company."
Gawker noted that Siegel's message resembled a similar online chain letter — and confirmed from Siegel that he adapted parts of that 2008 letter for his message to employees this week.
Siegel and his wife Jackie, you may remember, were profiled in Lauren Greenfield's documentary "The Queen of Versailles" — which opened the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, even as Siegel was suing Sundance and the filmmakers over how the movie was described in early press materials. (Sundance was later dropped as a defendant, but Siegel is still suing the filmmakers over the content of the film.)