David Siegel: 'I Didn't Try To Intimidate' Employees With Anti-Obama Email

For Westgate Resorts CEO David Siegel, telling his employes theyll lose their jobs if President Obama is reelected isnt a threat. Its a fact.

The Florida real estate tycoon, who recently restarted construction on his 90,000 square foot dream home , defended a private memo he sent to his employees telling them he will have no choice but to reduce the size of [his] company should Obama win the election come November.

Siegel, who has claimed he is personally responsible for getting George W. Bush elected , was criticized for striking fear in the hearts of his workers who may choose to vote for Obama. But he claims the memo wasn't meant to be a threat.

I didn't try to intimidate anybody, he told WKMG Local 6. Instead its simply a matter of preparing his employees for the worst, he later explained to CNBCS Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo."

I wanted to inform my employees of what their future would hold if they make the wrong decision, he said on CNBC. I wasnt threatening any of the employees. If they vote for Obama theyre not going to lose their jobs.

Siegel isn't shy about letting employees go in tough times; in 2009 he laid off some 7,000 workers thanks to tightening of the banks.

And he isn't the first CEO to make his political preferences known and not-so-subtly attempt to push them on his workers. Murray Energy Company employees were forced to lose a days pay to attend a mandatory Romney rally in August.

"Our managers communicated to our workforce that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend," a Murray Energy Company spokesman later told local news radio WWVA .

Correction: A headline elsewhere on the site misstated the candidate supported by Siegel as President Obama.