Ban Dish Network

[SuperiorDG]

As a former employee I've heard first hand accounts about Charlies tendency to be a bully. But this just tops the cake. If he were to be pushing for a Republican maybe I would see it differently.

DISH Network co-founder accused of bullying execs for political donations

The co-founder of broadcasting giant DISH Network was accused in a federal complaint last week of intimidating company executives into making political donations that largely went to Democratic causes.
The Federal Election Commission complaint, filed by conservative advocacy group Cause of Action, claimed an unnamed "insider" had come forward to report DISH executives "being compelled to make political campaign contributions."
The allegations center around co-founder and Board Chairman Charles Ergen. According to the complaint, the insider claimed Ergen "forced" Chief Operating Officer Bernard Han "to donate to a Democratic candidate and/or party in 2009/2010." The complaint went on to claim that, according to the source, Han was "encouraged" to attend Democratic functions and fundraisers.

Further, the filing said "Ergen allegedly made similar statements" to other executives.
"The insider explained that Ergen insinuated to Han that 'you still have your job,' but would suffer consequences if he failed to follow Ergen's orders," the complaint said.

The complaint said that Han contributed to the company's DISH Network PAC with a bi-weekly payroll deduction of $192.30 from 2009 to 2012. "In fact, the filings indicate that all of DISH's upper-management made similar payroll deductions" to the PAC, the filing stated.
Cause of Action's complaint went on to detail how contributions from that PAC often coincided with individual contributions from some of the DISH executives -- for instance, a $5,000 PAC donation to the campaign of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in August 2011, and a $2,500 donation from Han the same day; or contributions from two DISH executives to the campaign of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., in September 2010, followed by a $5,000 PAC contribution the following May.

The complaint said: "The close proximity in time between the donations, taken in conjunction with the anonymous source's allegation of compelled contributions, suggests a scenario in which DISH Network PAC either exceeds the contribution limit or meets it and then aggressively solicits further maximum donations from executives."
It's unclear to what extent these donations were partisan. Though the complaint detailed mostly donations to Democrats and Democrat-aligned causes, DISH Network PAC itself has donated to both parties. Ergen, too, has given thousands to both Democratic and Republican groups, according to federal records -- including the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
A representative with DISH Network did not return a request Monday for comment.
Cause of Action, though, argued that if the source's allegations are true, they would constitute a "direct and serious" violation of federal law barring corporate PACs from compelling donations by threatening job security.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012...#ixzz2G4vSK0sc

[ChadAmberg]

Yeah saw that.

Years back on the east coast I worked for a bank in Delaware. The rich corporate masters bent over backward to support Democrats of course, and one day that jackass Biden showed up walking around talking to people who were trying to do their job. He walked up to my buddy Matt who worked for me doing IT support. He didn't recognize that jackass Biden so when he started talking to my buddy, Matt held up his hand to shut him up and told him to call the help desk, and turned around back to his computer. It was awesome the look on that jackass Biden's face.

[R&S]

I cancelled Dish a few months ago and replaced it with a $20 set of "rabbit ears" from microcenter. Best $20 I ever spent, I also got netflix for $8 month, my setup doesn't have the most variety but I am satisfied with what I have ('cause I hardly have any time to sit and watch TV anyway).

Plus the rabbit ears gives me a better picture than Dish did.

[Bowtie]

The future of Dish was riding on them getting approval from the FCC on the terrestrial only use of there mobile spectrum. Charlie had Billions riding on it. It seems to have paid off, they got approval and now that spectrum is worth 2 to 4 times what he bought it for. Charlie donates to people in committees that influence his industry.