David Siegel has done it again.

When last we met him, the time-share tycoon co-starred in “The Queen of Versailles,” the documentary about his building the largest house in America. The plan was interrupted by the economic downturn, which almost cost him the company he founded, Westgate Resorts. But he retrenched, sold off a time-share condo he’d been building and supposedly made a comeback — if not to billionaire status, at least to becoming a 1%er again.

But the one thing he should have retrenched on was his Big Mouth. During the filming, he bragged that he’d gotten George W. Bush elected by doing something he didn’t think was legal. Well, he’s at it again, sending a letter to his 8,000 employees suggesting they vote Republican or they’d lose their jobs.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“The economy doesn’t currently threaten your job. What does threaten your job, however, is another 4 years of the same Presidential administration.”

While he says he can’t tell them who to vote for, he claims “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.”

Pity the poor man. His employees get nights and weekends off. Not him. “I unfortunately do not have that freedom. I eat, live and breathe this company every minute of every day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour.”

He urges his employees to vote against the candidate — Obama — who “will endanger your job.” Because if Obama wins, he’ll shut down the shop and you can find him “in the Caribbean sitting on the beach, under a palm tree, retired and with no employees to worry about.”

If parts of the note sound familiar, a similar chain letter was circulated in 2008. Gawker contacted Siegel, confirming he did write this letter, which he cribbed from the original.

Plagiarism aside, the letter is symptomatic of the sense of entitlement felt by many people. This man has more money that he can ever spend certainly in his life time — he’s 73 — and those of his kids, too. Yet he begrudges paying probably no more than a few thousand dollars extra to help put the country back on a firm economic keel.

Also, his letter raises another issue. Did the feds investigate his claim of election fraud — and, if so, what did they find?

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount