At Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., a suggestion from chief executive E. Stanley O'Neal is not to be taken lightly.Time to tell Merrill Lynch to to go hell. If they like Bush so much, they can have him - but we don't need to give them our business.
O'Neal eliminated 24,000 jobs, froze pay and steadily pushed out competitors for executive power, including colleagues who had championed his rise up the corporate ladder. 'Ruthless,' O'Neal has reportedly told colleagues, 'isn't always bad.'
So it came as no surprise that when O'Neal sent letters to senior executives at Merrill Lynch in early June asking them to contribute to President Bush's reelection campaign, the response was prompt and generous.
Between June 12 and June 30 of last year, the Bush-Cheney campaign was inundated with 157 checks from Merrill Lynch executives and at least 20 from their spouses; 140 checks were for the maximum allowed by law: $2,000.
Total take generated by the O'Neal letter: $279,750 in less than three weeks.
- Feel free to use this link to tell Merrill Lynch's corporate communications folks that if they want to whore for Bush, they can do it on their own.
- You can also contact Erik Hendrickson, a member of Merrill Lynch's media relations staff, here: Erik Hendrickson - phone 212.449.7293 - erik_hendrickson@ml.com
- Michael O'Looney of Media Relations at 212.449.9205 - michael_olooney@ml.com
- Tina Madon of Investor Relations at 866.607.1234 - Investor_relations@ml.com
